Pokemon Spirited Away
by WhiteOwl74
Summary: While traveling with her friends, White, Cheren, and Bianca discover an abandonded theme park. But as the sun sinks, White learns that its the spirit world, her friends now Pokemon. Now working in a bath house to earn their freedom, White learns about the mysteries around and about her, including the apprentice she finds familiar. Can White's courage save the day or will she fail?
1. Exploring Together

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Once again, it is I! WhiteOwl74, now presenting yet another fanfic, second crossover and fourth about Pokémon! This fanfic combines some of Japan's greatest imaginary wonders: the enchanting Spirit World of the Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away and the wonderful creatures called Pokémon. This is inspired by the wonder of a child's mind, when at age seven, you wonder how this movie could get better. Just add Pokémon! (Alright, so it's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to make the movie even better, but hopefully, it'll work out with Pokémon!)**

**To those who are new readers, welcome! For the people that have been reading since I first started out, great to see you all again! This is going to be a different experience, as I have very little experience with writing crossovers (other is one of Beauty and the Beast and Pokémon, still working on it), but I will do the best I can!**

**Summary: White didn't think that while exploring with her best friends, Cheren and Bianca, she would uncover a gateway into the spirit world. Now stuck there with her Snivy partner and having to work at a bath house for the freedom of her friends who have now been turned into Pokémon, she can't help but wonder why the apprentice to the owner is familiar. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or Spirited Away, no matter how much I want to. But I DO own my soul, this account, and all my ideas inspired by various TV shows, movies, and books. Imagination rocks!**

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"Honestly Bianca," a bespectacled black-haired boy called out from his bicycle, "I think we're lost."

"Nope," the cheerful blonde called back to her companion. "Professor Juniper said to take the right off the main road, remember? We just haven't gotten there yet. How you holding up White?" she called over her shoulder. Another figure, also on a bike, pedaled after her friends.

The brunette with the pale blue eyes smiled as she coasted forward, enjoying the breezy air. "I'm fine Bia. How are you doing, Snivy?" she asked the green Snake-Grass Pokémon perched in the bike's basket.

"Sniiii," the little Snivy said contently. _This is the life, _she thought as her Trainer pedaled to catch up. _Sunny day, a little breeze, and a ride with my Trainer, what could be better?_

Needless to say, Snivy's thoughts might have jinxed everything as Bianca swerved madly, stopping her bike from crashing into a small shrine. Bianca didn't hit it, but her bike collided with Cheren's and the two tumbled down with their Pokémon, an Oshawott for Bianca and a Tepig for Cheren. White hurried forward and braked, concerned about her friends.

"Are you two okay?" she asked, stepping away from her bike and helping them back up.

"Urgh yes, Bianca," Cheren said sternly. "Watch the heck where you're going with your bike!"

"Well excuse me for hitting you! But I was trying to avoid smashing that shrine," she shouted, pointing at it. "Would you have wanted me to have destroyed a piece of history?"

The two squabbled some more while White smiled and shook her head. Those two were so in love with each other and wouldn't admit it. It made her happy, yet sad too, as though she was a third wheel on a bike that wasn't supposed to be a tricycle.

"Guys give it a break please," White said to Cheren and Bianca, who were now nose-to-nose, glaring daggers at the other. "Be glad no one was harmed, and this thing's good too Bia."

"Good," Bianca said as she picked up her bike. "What does it say, anyways?"

They all looked at White expectantly as she studied it closer. The Unknown letters were worn, but she could tell it was an offering of old to the powerful dragon Pokémon in Unova legend. Which one, she couldn't say, but you could tell the historical significance. An old story her grandmother had told her came to her mind.

"_Some people used to build these shrines to honor and worship their ancestors. Some even say they house a spirit inside their stone hollow. Never break it, for sometimes, a Spiritome way come and haunt you until you have either gone to the spirit world yourself or repaired its home."_

"I'm guessing a prayer for a good harvest, maybe? Hard to say, the writings all faded," White said.

"Yeah, but we're never going to find that town now," Cheren said, pulling out a map and looking it over. "If somebody would have let me pull over for directions, we wouldn't be here." He shot a glance to Bianca, who ignored him.

"Come on guys? Where's that sense of adventure?" she asked perkily. "I say that we explore this path and see where it goes!" She climbed back on her bike; Oshawott stowed in, and rushed forward, not waiting for a reply.

"…She didn't know where to turn, did she?" Cheren asked White as they got back in their bikes.

"In one," she replied and they pedaled after their blonde, slightly ditzy friend.

The little dirt path was wavy and led through a thick grove of tree. The little light that dappled through illuminated the path so that the three could see enough to bike through. Curiously enough, there was no sign of Pokémon and no calls could be heard either.

"Spooky…" Bianca whispered to White, who looked around curious.

"It feels…Like we're trespassing," she said after a while.

"It looks as though that people rarely pass by," Cheren remarked.

White's bike screeched to a halt as her head swerved to the side, her eyes locked on a clump of bushes.

"White! What is it?" Bianca asked fearfully.

White gazed at the bushes. For a moment, she had seen a dark creature with a mane of green fur and a foxlike face. She could almost feel the strong grey-blue gaze of the Pokémon as she looked around, but nothing emerged.

"…Nothing, I could have sworn I had seen a Pokémon though," she said to her companions. Snivy sniffed the hair, her sense of smell the keenest. Beneath the tones of the forest, she could pick up a light trail of a Pokémon. Of course, it could just be nothing, but Snivy wasn't so sure.

"Well, good thing you did stop White," Cheren remarked as he pointed at something. "Otherwise, we could all have crashed into that." White turned to see what exactly _that _was.

_That _was a large statue of a Pokémon, a large gate with no fence behind it. The stone Zoroark stared at her with its granite eyes as she studied the red building. The gate itself was tall with a black rooftop stretching across it. Time had not been kind to it, as the plaster had disappeared in some places to reveal the bricks underneath.

"Wow," Bianca said, putting her bike besides an oak tree. "Where do you think it leads?"

"I don't know, but it just gives me the wrong feeling," White muttered to herself and her partner. Snivy nodded. The atmosphere of the area was haunting and mysterious, yet inviting. There was a soft echo of their voices and a wind swept through, pushing, no, pulling a cluster of leaves into the tunnel.

"Well…I wanna see what's here," Bianca said cheerfully as she skipped through the gate. She turned around and waved for her friends to follow. "Come on, don't tell me you guys are too scared to come!"

"I suppose a quick look wouldn't hurt. We're late enough already," Cheren agreed as he walked forward, Tepig at his heels.

Snivy and White shared a look before they followed. The three friends and their Pokémon all went through the tunnel, unaware of the danger they were about to put themselves in.

White was nervous as they walked down the darkened path. This whole tunnel, this part of the forest felt…Wrong. The slight breeze kept pushing at her back, as though telling her to keep moving while the rest of the air was still and silent. Snivy shivered, she was scared too. White looked to her trembling partner and gave an encouraging smile and patted her head. Snivy wrapped a vine around White's wrist as the two followed Bianca and Cheren.

"How long is this tunnel?" Cheren asked.

"Hang on, just up ahead," Bianca said to her companions.

In a few moments, they found themselves standing in a stone building. It was old and covered in vines and moss, with a few glass windows allowing light to pass through. Rows of stone columns held the high roof up, unlit lanterns dangling beneath it with empty benches scattered about. A lone fountain stood in the center, small drops of water trickling down.

"What is that noise?" Bianca asked confused.

White strained her ears, her sense of hearing the best. In the distance she could hear a faint roar and clacking, a sound she was familiar with.

"A train?" Cheren asked.

"Sounds like it," White agreed.

"Then there should be a train station nearby," her friend said as he walked forward.

As they started to move, White gave a glance back to the tunnel. She had a deep longing to return to the forest and pedal away as fast as she could, but her friends probably couldn't feel her unease. What was so dangerous that she wanted to leave? Why did this whole area have this peculiar atmosphere?

White stepped out from the darkness and into the light, a gasp escaping her lips. In front of her, miles wide, was the most beautiful valley she had ever seen. The green hills rolled into the distance, strewn with wildflowers and blossoms. A few stone statues were present too, covered in moss. A large village of rundown shacks stood before her.

"Oh," she said softly as her eyes returned to the distant hills.

"I believe I know where we are," Cheren said with a smile.

"Really? Where?" Bianca asked.

"This is an abandoned amusement park. Look."

Cheren pointed back to the building they had come from. The structure was massive, much bigger thatn they had thought it was, and much more extravagant. A clock tower sat at the very top, although the clock appeared to be broken for quite some time. It was obvious that the building hadn't been used in years.

"These sorts of places are everywhere. They were built during the Unova Golden years, but when they ended, the business went bankrupt and these parks had to close down." Cheren looked around and nodded. "My guess is that we're in one of them."

"How do you know that?" Bianca asked, her mouth wide.

"I've read about it, but I've wanted to see one with my own eyes for a while."

"Then let's get a closer look!" Bianca cried, grabbing Cheren's and White's arms and dragging them forward, across a bridge over an empty riverbed, not a single drop of liquid on the stones. White frowned and looked around. The theme park had a strange feel to it.

WHOOOOOOOSH!

A sudden wind blew from the building behind White, causing her to pitch forward. White staggered slightly and glanced back. She cringed slightly at the eerily tinkling melody of a wind chime before hurrying to her friends. As much as she despised this location, she had a feeling they should all stick together.

"Hey, didn't the building sound like it was moaning?" White asked Cheren.

He shrugged and said, "It's just the wind, White. You always thought that spirits were everywhere when we were kids. Don't let our imagination take over."

White frowned. Cheren still didn't believe about Totoro, the Snorlax spirit that lived in the large tree near White's house. Perhaps it was farfetched to him but still, nothing about this place felt right.

"Come on White, cheer up!" Bianca said as she skipped towards the town. "Isn't it the most amazing thing you've ever seen? I wish we could have brought a picnic, it's the perfect day for one." She elbowed Cheren gently. "See, wasn't it worth it?"

"Don't push it," he said, but the smile agreed that yes, it was worth it.

White still didn't like it as they kept walking. Bianca suddenly tripped and crashed into Cheren.

"Ouch! Bianca watch where you're…"

His voice trailed off as he saw the position they were both in. Bianca was lying on top of Cheren's chest, their faces dangerously close. White stifled a giggle as their faces flushed and they scrambled back up. Cheren fiddle with his glasses while Bianca tugged on her hat. Oshawott and Tepig smiled knowingly at each other.

"Alright love birds, where to now?" White asked with amusement.

Cheren looked embarrassed while Bianca said, "I say we find out where that smell's coming from."

White sniffed the air with Snivy. Indeed, a strong, tasty aroma seemed to fill the air, coming from ahead.

"Why don't we go see? It would seem that the park isn't as abandoned as we thought," Cheren said.

The buildings were of all shapes, sizes, and designs. Some were shaped in bizarre ways, like pop-out flowers, with statues of Pokémon in fine condition spread about. Signs of foreign or smudged letters dangled from eaves and the roofs. And as unique as they were, White could tell there was something similar about all the buildings.

"Weird, looks like their all restaurants," Bianca said.

"Where is everybody?" White asked.

They group continued to walk onward, the scent growing stronger. White saw that some of the buildings had lanterns and peculiar designs. Could this have been the center of the park? It's main attraction? White certainly couldn't see any rides or coasters.

"Found it!"

A little farther ahead, Bianca found the source of the smell. It was a bar style restaurant with a counter in front and the kitchen in the back. Stools sat up tall and the sound of steam seemed to hiss from the empty kitchen. Large bowls sat on the counter, full of delicious looking foods, the likes of which White had never seen. Her stomach rumbled, not from hunger, but a feeling of dread.

"Whoa!" Bianca said, plopping herself onto a stool.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Cheren called into the kitchen, but no answer.

"Hey White, aren't you sitting with us?" Bianca asked her friends who was still standing.

White shook her head furiously. She might be hungry, but the feeling of dread had flowed throughout her entire body. Something wasn't right here. The Pokémon seemed to understand too. Oshawott was tugging on Bianca's skirt and Tepig looked tense. Snivy appeared calm, but fidgeted nervously on White's shoulder.

"Do you think it's okay to eat anything?" Bianca asked, staring at a smaller bowl of noodles. "I'm starving."

"No one's here, though," Cheren said with a frown.

"We can leave money or wait to pay," Bianca countered lifting the bowl and grabbed a pair of chopsticks.

Her eyes lit up as she ate. "Oh! This is so good! You have to try some Cheren!"

Although wary, Cheren couldn't help but try his own bowl. He was surprised. "This is delicious," he agreed. "Do you want anything White?"

"Not hungry," she said quickly. "I don't think we should eat any on it."

"Don't worry, White. We'll pay for these noodles. Why don't you try some?"

White was about to say no again when Snivy suddenly shot off her shoulder. "Snivy! Come back," she cried, but the Grass-type ran off.

"Oh!" Bianca said surprised.

"I'll be right back," White said to her friends, who had stopped eating.

"Okay, we'll wait for you."

"We need to pay for the food anyways," Cheren stated.

"Right, back soon. Snivy! Wait up!" White cried again as she took off, her brown hair flying out behind her. She didn't realize that by leaving her friends, she was not leaving them alone, but with something much more dangerous.

**And…Chapter's done! Tell me what you think! We'll be seeing the spirit world soon enough and meeting a certain apprentice. Anyways, review for the soul! Or in this case, the spirit!**


	2. A Strange New World and Surprises

**Pokemon Spirited Away**

**Hello readers! WhiteOwl74 here again! Next chapter is up! And it surprises me that I've got the second already set, even though I just started typing yesterday. Ah well! When inspiration strikes, you better get it while it's hot!**

**Review from last chapter: While on a trip with her friends, White and company discover a gate that leads to an abandoned town. Despite White's dread, the group continues onwards, Cheren and Bianca shared a moment before the trio found a food stand. The later had some noodles when White's Snivy took off running, White following.**

**Alright enough of reviewing! Onward to the next chapter! Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or Spirited Away. I just own my soul, my books, and my imagination, not for sale!**

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"Snivy!" White shouted as the little snake Pokémon darted around a corner. "Come on girl, what's the matter?"

White rounded the corner quickly and managed to scoop of the Grass-type. Snivy flailed around; worried someone else had snatched her before settling down, realizing it was White.

"What's wrong girl?" White cooed, gently petting the top of her partner's head. She looked around at their surroundings. She placed Snivy around her neck as she walked forward, curious.

The twosome walked up some stairs to see a massive tree standing guard over a tall statue. It was red with fancy gold corners, the top a house-like structure with white panels and black markings White couldn't understand. Her eyes flickered to the right and she let out a slight gasp of wonder.

A massive building stood before her, elegant and tall. The decor took White' breath away, with its red walls, and mint-green and golden trim. A steel chimney stretched out into the sky, belching out smoke, and White walked across a small wooden bridge that connected the building to the street. A man-made water fall stood within the confines of a walled garden in the front, steam rising up into the air. Paper lanterns hung from the roof as the light began to fade. White frowned; it had only been three when they had entered this amusement park. Why was it turning to night already?

"It looks like a bath house, right?" she asked Snivy. The Grass-Pokémon shrugged, she knew very little about architecture. "But seriously, when did it get so late?"

Rumble…rumble…WHOOOOOH.

White raced to the right side of the bridge to catch sight of something.

"There's the train," she said to Snivy as the red locomotive passed by underneath with a wave of smoke.

As it disappeared underneath the bridge, White and Snivy raced to the other side, curious to see where it was going, White perching on the railing to get a better look at the train. She turned, surprised, where she found that she and Snivy weren't alone after all.

A pale boy was staring at her in shock. He was taller than her, maybe a year or two older. His long hair was a tea green that was tied back and his grey-blue eyes widened with surprise. His clothes were a white top with blue trim and black pants, his shoes sandals. To White, he seemed strangely familiar.

The strange boy gave a slight gasp as he saw White more clearly.

"You shouldn't be here," he whispered to her before his voice grew harder. "Get out! Now!"

"What?" White asked as Snivy nodded earnestly and began to tug on White's leg.

"It's almost night. Leave now, before it gets dark!" the green-haired boy urged.

Indeed, the sun was starting to set, the sky turning orange. Again, White wondered how the time could pass by so quickly. The lanterns began to illuminate the growing darkness.

"Damn," the boy whispered. "There lighting the lanterns already." He shoved White away, back across the bridge.

"Hey what's going…"

The boy pushed her again. "Go! You've got to get out of here! Go across the river before nightfall! Just run, I'll make sure they won't catch you."

"Wait…" White said as he blew a flurry of pink cherry blossoms across the bridge.

"You're still here? Run! I'll cover you!"

White grimaced but did as she was told and ran down the steps, back towards the food stalls with Snivy. She paused as she was halfway down slightly before continuing, the lanterns flickering on. "What's with him?" she asked Snivy, who didn't say anything.

They hurried past several stalls when White realized that they weren't as empty as she had thought. As more lights came on, White saw black, see-through creatures with only white circles for eyes milling around inside the stalls. White gasped, but kept moving. She had to get Cheren and Bianca.

"Cheren! Bianca! Where are you guys? We have to go, now!" White shouted.

Then she heard the commotion, with her friends' voice calling out to her.

"White!" Bianca's wail cried.

White stiffened before taking off, her speed even faster than before. She turned the corner to see the stall she had left her friends at and gasped. There, a Purrloin with a red pair of glasses and a Deerling wearing a green hat were struggling against some of the black creatures White had seen. Tepig and Oshawott were fighting them off as well, but it looked like the battle was not going well.

"Cheren! Bianca! Where are you two?" White cried out.

The Purrloin wriggled out of one of the creatures grasp and shout in Cheren's voice, "White! Get out of here! YOU have to run!"

"Cheren!" White shrieked in surprise. Her eyes flashed to the poor Deerling, its hat lopsided. "Bianca?" she asked fearfully.

The Deerling tossed its head to regarded White before crying out, "Oh White! Run! Please, you have to escape!"

"Wait," White cried when one of the creatures grabbed her shoulders. She shook furiously, trying to loosen the iron grip on her when a lock of her hair flew into her face. Before her very eyes, the brown curl began to turn a creamy white. She let out a wail and fought harder, but it was no use. She felt her body change slightly, growing leaner, her hair shortening. That's when an outside force tackled the creature who was gripping White.

"Leave her alone! Take me instead!" Cheren shouted as he fought the creature, White dropping to the ground, splayed out a bit before leaping back to her feet.

"Cheren! Bianca!"

"Run! Take our partners with you," Cheren shouted as he struggled again. Bianca managed to kick a spirit in the face. "We'll distract them. Hurry! You can get out of here!"

"But!"

"GO!"  
And with that, her friends' partners in tow, White ran. For a second, Cheren thought he saw a white Pokémon with a blue band around its waist in his friend's place, before White's shoes were smacking the pavement again, her brown hair falling from her Ponyta tail. He clawed another figure as she disappeared from view, making a solemn promise to herself that she would help her friends.

White blinked away tears that plummeted to the ground as Tepig and Oshawott jogged to keep up with her pace that could outrun a Zebstrika.

"I swear you two, I'm coming to return and save you both," White said aloud.

"That's fine and dandy, but first we need to save our own skins if we're going to help them out," a female voice said from around White's neck.

White gasped and nearly skidded to a stop. "Snivy! You can talk!"

"I've always been able to talk, you just don't listen close enough," the Grass-type replied. "Maybe it's this place. I don't know. Hey! You two! What happened back there?" she shouted, addressing the other Pokémon.

"I…I don't know," Oshawott whimpered, nearly falling over. White hurriedly scooped him and Tepig up into her arms, not breaking pace. "Cheren and Bianca were just waiting for you guys to come back and to pay the person, then suddenly all these black things poured out of nowhere and surrounded them!"

"When they backed away, Cheren and Bianca," Tepig said sadly, "Had turned into Pokémon. They started to attack us then."

White cried softly as she ran down the street, the sun sinking behind her. It took her a moment to figure out which direction to go in. By the time White was nearing the place where she and her friends had entered a short while ago, the sky was turning a deep blue-black. Hopefully there was still time to cross back into the station.

SPLASH!

"Water!" White shouted, swimming back to her side.

The empty river bed from early had somehow filled up to become a colossal body of water, more like a lake than a river. White winced at all the water in front of her. She could swim, but not to the station. Besides, she had had bad experience with water in her past and water put out fire. She squinted her eyes, trying to see if, by some chance of dumb luck or faith she could reach the other shore.

A distant glow caught her eye. The building White and her friends had exited from earlier, was glowing like a neon light! It was the center of a twinkling city. White shook furiously. There had been only one building earlier and now it was surrounded by others. What was going on?

"What is this?" Snivy asked.

"I must be dreaming," White whispered as she stared at the sight.

White sank to the ground, her knees like jelly. Snivy patted her shoulder as Oshawott and Tepig nuzzled her comfortingly. Snivy let out a gasp.

"Waah! White! Y-y-your hands!"

White blinked and held them out. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. They were see-through, like a ghost! She could just make out the thin outlines of hands as a glowing, festive steam boat pulled up onto the shores of the stairs. The doors opened as floating masks levitated out. Once they neared the edge of the boat, reaching land, they gained a scarlet cloak around their bodies, purple headgear, and a fan clasped in a hand. Other creatures appeared too, all heading in the same general direction.

White tried to remain calm as she back up with the Pokémon, who were also beginning to fade away. That calm lasted only a few moments, before the girl scooped them all up again and race up the grassy hillside, leading them to an abandoned shed nearby.

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The boy from the bathhouse, at the moment, was ducking through the crowds, searching every corner for any sign of the girl from earlier. He had a mission to follow, but he had his own priorities now. It was important to find the girl. It was clear she hadn't been able to reach the river by them. He swore angrily at himself. If he had sent her away faster, then she could have made it, but he had been too surprised by her sudden appearance to react as quickly. Now she was stuck here and her friends had been turned into Pokémon. She herself had narrowly escaped the same fate. But things weren't looking very good if he couldn't find her soon.

His ears twitched as he heard a lite sob. It was the girl. She was by the river, hidden in a shed with three Pokémon, one for herself and the others belonging to her friends. Scanning the hills, the boy found the shed and raced over to the lost girl.

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**Wow! Two chapter in one night? I'm on a roll! Any guesses on the mystery boy? Find out by reading the next chapter! It'll be here soon!**


	3. A Friend and Spark of Flames

**Pokémon Spirited Away **

**Back again! I enjoy writing this fanfic as it combines two great Japanese elements. Even if there are no reviews so far, I'll keep writing for the soul and spirit. I don't own Pokémon or Spirited Away. I would like to thank Riley Sky for inspiring me to write this fanfic, as her own tale is so far pretty spell-binding.**

**Review of last chap: White managed to catch Snivy and the two discover a bath house. A mysterious boy warns her to leave before nightfall and she runs away to get her friends. Only problem? They've been turned into Pokémon and are captured, giving White a chance to run. She, Snivy, and her friends' Pokémon try to escape, only to find the exit is guarded by water. They then discover that they are slowly being erased and take shelter from the spirits that wander about.**

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White sat curled up in a corner of the shed; hugging the three Pokémon tightly as they all grew more transparent. White sniffled and held them closer, as if to gather them up and keep them whole. She desperately wished it was a dream, no, a nightmare. But White understood the situation. They weren't in an abandoned theme park.

This was the spirited world.

White's grandmother had told her tales about this place, of the emptiness of it in the morning, but the pack crowds of night. But most of all the warnings.

_Never eat the food of the spirits and never stay longer than night, for you will fade any from existence, to a place where even the spirits dare not go, _Grandmother had said as she told White one night. White had swore eagerly that she would obey her elder's wishes.

_How could I have not known? _White asked herself. It was her fault for not recognizing the signs and now her friends were Pokémon and probably captured as she and their partners began to disappear from existence.

Snivy hugged White's neck as the girl let out a strangled sob. "Shhh," she whispered to White. "It'll be okay." But this only caused White to cry harder.

There was the sound of soft footsteps across the grass, but White kept her head down. A hand placed itself of White's shoulder and the girl was about to scream when another appeared on her mouth. She tried to struggle before she realized who it was.

The boy from earlier was crouched down besides her. His left hand was on her shoulder somehow and he gazed at her with his grey-blue eyes.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to help," he said to White.

White shrunk back a bit, terrified. "You're a spirit," she whispered. "This is the spirit world. Please…No…Please go away…"

"I'm surprised that you know that. Who taught you about all this?" he asked as he searched his pockets.

"My grandmother," White said as the boy found what he was looking for.

"Yes, the elders generally know more about us than most other." He held up a single crimson berry to White. "Eat this. You'll have to eat food from this world or else you'll disappear."

"No!" White shouted. She reached out her hand to shove him away.

Her hand, however, went right through him. White's breathing stopped and her heart shuddered as she pulled it back. Snivy hissed at the boy and the other starters took up positions to protect White.

The boy ignored them and gently pried open White's mouth and slipped the berry inside. "Don't worry, it won't turn you into a Pokémon if someone offers it to you. Come on. Chew it and swallow," he urged to White.

White chewed warily, she had forgotten that food offered by the spirits was safe to eat. She gulped it down and took a deep calming breath. Her form became solid again and her color returned, much to Snivy's relief.

"All better," the boy said as he held out his hand. "See for yourself."

White looked at him fearfully, but slowly extended her own hand to press it against his. Instead of phasing through, her hand was once more flesh and blood, pressed against the boy's. She stared at it for a moment as thoughts rushed through her head. Could he be trusted? Who exactly was he? White wasn't so sure, but he was helping her, so she guessed she could trust him to an extent.

"Do you have any more for them?" White asked the boy, who nodded and gave each of the Pokémon one berry. A few moments later, all of them were safe and solid again.

"Thank you," White said to the boy.

"We better get moving," he replied with a nod as he started to get up. White grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Wait! Where's Bianca and Cheren? They…They're gone are they…? They didn't know it wasn't safe to eat the food and I didn't realize where we were until a while ago. Please, are they okay?"

The boy hesitated slightly. "You can't see them right now, but they are safe, for the moment. Hopefully, you and the Pokémon can see them soon," he promised. Then he froze and looked up at the sky. He bent back down next to White and shielded her from view, trapping her against the wall, the Pokémon pressed against her.

"Wha?" White asked, surprised at his boldness. Her face flushed as she saw how close her face was to his chest.

"Don't move, don't even speak," he ordered.

He glanced back up at the sky, White's eyes following. Her stomach dropped as she was what was circling overhead. It was a Honchkrow, but different. Darker wings, sharper talons…and a human head! White stiffened as she saw the old woman's head on the Honchkrow's body. It circled above a few times, scanning the ground. The boy pressed White closer to the wall and himself, his head over her's. Snivy resisted the urge to growl at him for making such a move on her trainer, especially under these circumstances. After a few minutes, the dark Pokémon flew off. The boy relaxed and leaned away from White, much to her relief.

"That bird's looking for you four," he said. "We have to get you out of here."

He stood up and White tried to do the same, but discovered she was stuck.

"Aaah! My legs! They're locked, I can't move them!" she said in shock. Her grandmother had never told her about this.

"Calm down," Snivy soothed. "Just relax, your muscles must be stiff from all the running."

"You'll be fine," Oshawott said and Tepig agreed with a nod.

"Relax," the boy said, kneeling down to White's side. He placed a hand on her leg. "In the name of water and wind, unbind thee."

His hands glowed a bluish white that flowed onto White's legs. Her muscles relaxed and she tenderly stood up. Snivy leaped up onto her shoulder while the other two hopped into White's bag. Snivy didn't fully like this boy, but she had no choice but to trust him now. There was no one else, at the moment. But she would keep an eye on him in case if he tried to pull something.

The boy suddenly grabbed White's hand and took off running. The speed astonished White; it was faster than the Zebstricka that she raced against often, as thought they were racing along the wind. But she was fast too. In a few moments, she was matching the boy's pace, much to his surprise, but he remained silent. The lights and buildings blurred together, impossible to tell which was which. All White and the Pokémon could see as they raced past was blended together as they raced into a cold alleyway.

A door was farther up ahead, but with the speed they were going at, they would reach in momentarily.

"There's a door up ahead," White said to the boy.

"Slow down! We'll crash," Snivy hissed angrily.

The boy didn't even slow down. He thrust his hand in front, a strange chime sound echoing in the empty streets. Just as it seemed when they were going to crash, the door flung itself open and allowed them through, before shutting behind them. They passed though a barn or something, then a room full of fish, followed by a freezing room that stored meat. Another door magically opened and shut. White did not doubt that this boy was wither magic or had powers. She had had experience with it herself in the past. And after everything the Pokémon had seen, they were willing to believe it as well.

The boy cut through a stable with White and the Pokémon. The pens were all different sizes, full of Pokémon to keep them from escaping. Even though she was going at an incredible speed, White saw a Purrloin with glasses and a Deerling with a green hat out of the corner of her eye. The two looked at her with wide eyes before she disappeared. A tear leaked from her eye as she was led out of there and into a hidden courtyard, where the boy finally stopped running. White peeked carefully around a corner to see something no other human had ever seen.

The magnificent bath house from earlier stood up proud and tall, the lights inside lit and giving the building a unique golden glow. Welcoming, but eccentric. Leading to the building, on the bridge, walked numerous spirits and creatures. Some were Ghost Pokémon, like Gengars and Banettes; others were the black white-eyed ghosts from earlier. A few were from the boat and some resembles humans with Pokémon aspects. And others were unlike anything White had seen before. She thought, for the briefest of seconds, she could see a large walking creature, wonderfully familiar, but it disappeared inside before she could be sure.

"We're going to cross the bridge," the boy said as he opened the garden's gate for White. "You'll have to hold your breath until we're on the other side."

"Why?" White asked, interest peaked.

"Even the tiniest breath will break the spell and everyone will see you."

"Do they need the spell too?" White asked gesturing to the Pokémon.

"No, if they travel with me, they'll be okay. But you're a human and it's dangerous for you in this world. They can stand Pokémon, but humans almost never travel here."

White agreed that drawing attention probably wasn't such a good idea. The boy wrapped and arm around White's waist as the Pokémon jumped to the ground. White ignored the contact, but Snivy grimaced. She didn't approve of him and here he was holding her Trainer like they were together, but she allowed it, for White's sake. They stepped out from the courtyard and joined with the other creatures, who didn't seem to notice.

"I'm back from my mission," the boy said to a pair of greeters, who resembled Politoed in some ways, with their frog-like faces.

"Welcome back master N!" one greeted.

_N? _Wondered White as they walked ahead. It certainly was an interesting name for him. They approached the bridge.

"Take a deep breath," N whispered to White. "Be sure to hold it until we're at the end."

White nodded and inhaled deeply. Once their feet hit the bridge, the challenge had begun. White was used to holding her breath, due to training with her grandmother, but she couldn't remember the last time she had held her breath for such a long time. But she was holding up well so far. Snivy was pleased by this, but didn't say anything as White's body has disappeared from view.

"How long will it take?" Snivy asked N.

"At the end of the bridge, your friend can catch her breath. She's doing well," he said softly.

Snivy smirked with pride. Of course her Trainer was tough; Snivy had chosen her after all. She and the others gazed around at their surroundings. It was peculiar as Snivy walked besides some of the most bizarre creatures ever. Of course, she never thought she would have been transported to the spirit world with her Trainer and her friends' Trainers turned into Pokémon.

White looked in wonder at all the spirits surrounding her. She felt as though she was being watch and her eyes darted to the left, where there was a single spirit, standing alone to the side. He was a tall and thin, mostly black and semi-transparent at the bottom. A white mask served as his face, painted in a neutral expression. He was staring directly at White and N and he appeared to see through the illusion. White didn't know if she should warn N or do nothing, but she couldn't talk. She looked back at the spirit, who turned his head to watch their movement. No one else seemed to pay him any mind. White turned away from him, feeling sad for the spirit that stood all alone.

"Hang on. We're almost there," N assured the still invisible White as they neared the end.

Female greeters were at the entrance now. They were humanoid, but with the ears of different Pokémon and tails poking out in the back. Several resembled Skitties or Sentrets, all of the Normal-type crossover. White kept her breath, not losing it yet, but had placed her hand over her mouth and nose just in case. N nodded slightly to her, giving some encouragement.

"Master N!" a Lombre cried, jumping up into White's and N's faces. "Where've ya' been?"

"Out on a mission," N said quickly. He was surprised that the girl had not reacted. True, she had looked surprised, but managed to keep from saying anything.

"Any luck with the human?" the Lombre asked, cocking its head to one side.

"Nothing. It would appear she either managed to escape or hid herself well. She could be faded away by now, though."

"Yeah…How'd ya' know it's a girl?"

"There were three humans before, one male and two females. We can account for the boy and one girl, so the other must be a girl," N said, lying smoothly. It was true, but he didn't really want to admit he had seen the girl with his own eyes. White gently tugged on his sleeve, she wanted to get moving, her air supply would be running low soon and if they kept up this conversation any more, she would pass out.

"Good point. Are these guys new clients?" he asked, nodding to Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott.

"I'm not sure who they are actually, I found them wandering around. I was hoping that they were someone's."

"Hmm…Can't recall anyone asking for missing Pokémon. Ah well, later," the Lombre cried leaping forward, to N's left side, much to his horror, and crashing right into White. Even though she was invisible, she was still solid and their heads whacked into each other. White let out a soft moan of pain as did the Lombre, the spell breaking.

Lombre rubbed his head in pain and opened his eyes. They widened as he saw White gently holding her head in pain. Her pale blue eyes flickered to his and for a moment nothing happened. Then the Lombre shouted, "What! Human!" and all heck broke loose.

The greeters turned and several made towards White when suddenly a few of the lanterns on side of the bridge caught fire, causing some of the guests to scream. N was about to do something, when he realized this was a good distraction. The greeters had gone into a panic as fire leaped about, dancing eerily in the night. He quickly made the wind blow harder, causing the skirts of the female greeters to fly upwards, causing the girls to shriek and press the skirts back down and a few males to look shocked.

"Go now!" he whispered to White, who nodded and disappeared into the chaos, the Pokémon at her side.

"Master N! What are we going to do?" Lombre shouted as the flames jumped about.

"We put them out, obviously," he said as the greeters swarmed out for water buckets. He gave a glance back to where the girl had disappeared to and was relieved to see she had made it. "I'll go after the human, stay here and put out the flames," he ordered to the Lombre before racing off.

Lombre gulped as he looked at the flames. He might be a Water-Grass type, but he was still afraid of fire. He shot out a quick Water Gun and was relieve when it looked like the flames were dying down, before shouting out as the flames rose in height.

White ran forward with the panicked guests and greeters alike, not caring about anything but to get away from the flames. White felt someone grab her arm and pulled her to a quieter, empty hall. N stood with her arm clasped in his grasp.

"They know you're here now," he said sadly with a sigh, releasing his grip on her.

"Sorry," White whispered.

"Not your fault, actually. But the flames are giving you some god cover…Where did they come from?"

"Didn't you do that?" White asked hurriedly, scared that he would find out.

"No," he said truthfully, shaking his head. "Lightning and wind, some plants yes, but no flames. But that's beside the point. You can't stay here. They'll find you as soon as the flames are put out and you'll never be able to rescue your friends."

White smiled coyly. "It'll take a while with those flames."

"Why?"

"Just trust me on that one."

N started at her in confusion while the Pokémon grinned deviously, knowing what had happened.

"But where are Cheren and Bianca?" White asked again.

"Don't worry, if the flames are as powerful as you say, it'll create a distraction for a while. You four have to slip away. If you want to save your friends, you must leave this place; this is what you must do."

N lifted one figure, pressing it to White's forehead. In White's mind, she could see an image, a sort of landscape inside her head. They were the courtyard gardens and as N spoke, the images changed.

"Once I've left to distract them, go out through the back gate. Go all the way down the stairs until you reach the boiler room. There, you'll find Kamaji, the boiler man. Ask him for a job, tell him I sent you. He should help you."

The vision ended.

"Kah-mah-gee," White repeated. "Ask for a job. Back gate, down stairs, boiler room." She opened her eyes and nodded. "Got it."

"If he doesn't have any work, don't take no for an answer. Beg if you have to. If you don't get a job, Yubaba will turn you into a Pokémon."

"Yubaba?" White asked surprised. "Not the witch!"

"You know her? You seem to know a lot about us. Anyways, she rules this bathhouse, and she's very powerful. You'll see for yourself soon enough, I fear." N frowned. "She, maybe even Kamaji, will try to turn you away. Perhaps even try and trick you. But you must get work." N sighed before he continued. "It'll be hard work, but you'll be able to stay here. And Yubaba won't harm you."

White nodded, understanding completely. A panic cry for N sounded from behind her.

"I have to go," N said, getting up and nodding for her to run. "Looks like they need help with the flames after all. What are they?"

"_Obake_ _honoo_, ghost flames," White explained. "If they are fed limited amounts of water, they will grow in size and expand, but they won't burn you unless you are wet or the wielder wishes. Put it out by giving it a steady stream of water or feeding it flames. The new fire will consume the older flames and then it will die out."

"…How do you…Never mind. But remember…White, be brave, and Snivy, protect your Trainer with your life. I'm sure you all can make it. None of you should forget that I am, and always will be, your closest ally."

"Wait!" White cried. "How do you know my name?"

"I've known you since you were younger," N said simply, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face, if only for a moment. "Good luck. Stay strong, all of you."

White wanted to ask more, but the cries had grown louder and N went to help. She sat there for a while, hugging Snivy gently.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered.

Snivy patted her face. "You're one of the best Trainers, White. You're tough and you can do anything. I believe in you and so do these two," she said with a nod to Oshawott and Tepig. "And Bianca and Cheren do too. You'll never be alone either. I'm sticking by your side."

White smiled, blinking tears from her eyes. She let Snivy go. "Thanks Snivy."

"No problem."

After a few minutes, White nodded and stood up. "We should get going now."

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Outside, N watched in surprise as the flames, like White had said, grew bigger as the greeters dumped a pail of water on them.

"It's no good," one cried.

"Someone go get Yubaba! She'd know what to do!"

N couldn't let them go get Yubaba; she would be able to find White quickly and who knows what she would do to the poor girl. So he quickly headed for Lombre, who watched the flames nervously.

"I didn't catch her, thanks to you," he said, pretending to sound angry.

"Sorry," Lombre said, glancing at the ground. "But every time we pour water on them, they just get bigger. Any idea?"

N looked at the flames carefully. He waited a moment before he said, "_Obake_ _honoo_."

"Ghost flames?!" Lombre gasped. It had been years since he had seen so much a flicker of such magic.

"Yes…I wonder who could have placed them here…No matter, we need fire to put them out, or a strong, steady supply of water. And seeing as how no one knows Hydro Pump…Anyone here a fire-type?"

"I am master N!" a Charmeleon shouted.

"Good, I need you to light this stick," N said, holding it out. "I've heard that these flames can only be put out with more fire."

The Charmeleon nodded and set the stick on fire. N nodded and went over to the biggest of the blazes. If White was telling the truth, then the flames were going to be engulfed by the new fire. If not…N would figure that out. N shoved the stick into the flames and waited.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then with a great sucking noise, the fire on N's tree branch absorbed the fire that was previously on the wood. He watched in wonder as the flame on the stick turned into a phoenix that consumed the other fire. Then with a mighty scree, the phoenix disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

Everyone watched in surprise. N caught himself and turned back to the others.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Get some more fire and put this out!"

The employees scurried about, doing as he said, as N looked at the flames around him.

White certainly knew how to put them out, so she must know how to start them. Just who or what was she?

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

**Done! This Fanfiction is moving along well! And since I get Tuesday off (one of the perks of election day!) I can work on all my stories! **

**So, we have met N, who is the fanfic's version of Haku and White's going to look for work. And several "moments" with N and White and Snivy's not too pleased with this. But what about these flames? How does White know so much about the spirit world? Will more people read and enjoy this? (JK! :P) Stay tuned to find out!**

**Review for the soul and spirit!**


	4. The Boiler Man

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Alight! Chapter 4 is up folks! Hope this clears up some questions you might have! If not…That'll happen later on! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon nor Spirited Away. Sigh…**

**Review: White realized that they were in the spirit world and met up again with the boy from earlier. He gave her and the Pokémon some food that prevented them from fading away. He then hides White from view of a Honchkrow, much to Snivy's anger, as he had White in an uncomfortable position. After a small delay, he leads White to the bath house, White seeing her friends very briefly before arriving. After becoming invisible then revisable, the greeters of the bath house were about to capture White when flames erupted everywhere. N told her to go to Kamaji and ask for work before going off to put out the flames. What will happen to our brave heroine?**

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

White sighed in relief as she and the Pokémon were able to crawl back to the gardens, avoiding anyone. From the bridge came the relieved cries as the fires were extinguished and the Politoeds scattering to search for her. She stood up and opened the back gate, just as N had done for her a short while ago, and yet it felt like forever. She let the Pokémon pass, before she slipped through, closing it securely behind her. She was much calmer now, thanks to Snivy and the others. Now, White was going to follow N's directions and find Kamaji.

The wind blew softly as White walked forward, Snivy settled on her shoulders, Oshawott in her bag, and Tepig in her arms. Carefully, she found a wooden platform with a set of stairs. White leaned over to see how long it was. The stairs stretched down a great distance, leading to a smaller platform, farther away.

"Yikes…" White whispered. "Long way down."

"You can say that again," Oshawott remarked.

White felt a little dizzy looking at the great distance between her and the ground, but she took a deep breath and drew on her courage. She looked around for a railing, but there was nothing. She sighed. Ah well, it would have been difficult for her to grip a railing with Tepig in her arms. But it would have been comforting too.

"Just take it one step at a time," White said, gently setting a foot on one step. So far so good. Steps one through three went well. Step four…Not so much.

"YIPE!" White cried as she slipped and landed on the fifth step, right on her rear end. She winced at the pain, but was relieved. A sore butt she could put up with; death and eternal residence in this world, not so much. White got back up and secured the Pokémon better before climbing down to the next step…

Creeeeaak…

"Huh?" Oshawott asked a the peculiar noise filled the air,

SNAP! CRASH!

The wooden step was very worn and it couldn't support the weight of a human and three small Pokémon. White was sent sliding down a few dozen steps, screeching as she held the terrified Pokémon close. She was jostled this way and that, like a roller coaster, with all the twists and turns, without the safety of a seat belt. The Pokémon screamed and yelled in harmony with White as they tumbled down the steps before White managed to get to her feet and ran down the rest at a breakneck pace, yelling the whole way down, a peculiar feeling sweeping over her as well as horror, excitement, and exhilaration.

WHAM!

As quickly as it had happened, the terrifying tumble had ended, with White's face pressed against a stone wall. It took s few moments to process what the hell just happened to them. After those couple minutes of mortal fear, they were now at the end of the stairs.

White, Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig all looked at each other for a few moments. Then they all burst out laughing It was so hilarious, crashing into a wall at the end. And despite the terror, the ride had actually been quite fun. It was also comforting, to laugh in the face of a strange new world.

White stopped laughing quickly and pressed a hand to Snivy's mouth, silencing her. The others soon followed. Above them, a window opened. A ghost-spirit stuck its head out the window and puffed on a cigarette, letting the smoke blow across the night sky. It was clear he was going to be there for a while. White held up a finger to her mouth before she snuck past, towards the second flight of stairs.

Once a safe distance away, Snivy said the thing that had been bugging her for the last half hour.

"I don't like that N guy."

"He's helping us, Snivy," White said as she stepped down carefully.

"Still," she said, going on as if White hadn't spoken at all, "There is something strange about him."

White shot her a patronizing look. Snivy understood what she was getting at and was about to say something else when something caught her eye. She choked slightly and hissed, "White…You have white ears…"

"Huh?"

"Just…Lift your hand to your head…" White did that. "Now, place it on the top." White also did that. "Now…Move it to the left." White did…

White froze and felt it again. There, amongst her hair, was a soft, furry little ear, just off to the left side, where her normal ear should be, only higher. White checked the other side and found another to match.

"Wha…?" she asked as Tepig and Oshawott gasped.

"You…Have…A TAIL!" Oshawott shouted hysterically.

White swerved her head and nearly passed out. Indeed, a creamy white forked tail cowered between her legs, shaking like a scared Lillipup. White sat down hard on the cement stairs, confused and shocked by it all.

No one said anything for a while. Then Tepig said, "When that spirit grabbed you, back when we were fighting with Cheren and Bianca…It must have put the same curse on you…"

"Is it a slow thing?" Oshawott asked nervously.

Snivy looked at the face of her Trainer, showing no emotion. White's eyes were wide and unblinking as a large purple dot formed over each of her eyes. Snivy nodded and then slapped White across the face.

Tepig's jaw dropped and Oshawott fumbled with his scallchop. White looked at Snivy, surprised.

"White, concentrate on me, okay? Just think about what you look like normally. No cream colored ears or tail and no purple dots."

"Purple dots? What purple dots?" White asked fearfully.

"No purple dots," Snivy said forcefully. "Just concentrate."

White sighed and nodded. She closed her eyes and drew up a mental picture of herself, with Bianca and Cheren there too. White relaxed and the Pokémon watched in fascination and relief as the white ears moved downwards and morphed back into her normal ears and the white tail retracted into her body. The pale lavender dots faded from view. White opened her eyes and said, "Better?"

"Much better," Snivy said with a smile.

"Holy Arceus," Tepig said in wonder. "They tried to cast a spell on you, but Cheren broke the contact. The spell's incomplete; it _allows _you to turn into a Pokémon at your will!"

"How awesome it that?" Oshawott asked. He grinned. "Of course, since White was going blue and cream, it's safe to say she was being transformed into a Water-type, correct?"

WHACK!

Oshawott groaned as he rubbed his sore head while Snivy glared at him.

"You dope! What Water-type has a thin cream and purple tail?"

"I was…Turning into a Mienshao," White whispered.

The Pokémon turned to White, stunned.

"How can you tell?"

"Just…I felt stronger, swifter, more agile…And it was triggered through adrenaline rush and calmed through meditation. Anyone know anyone but Physic and Fighting-types that meditate? And the colors…A Mienshao," White said with finality.

"…I think it suits you," Snivy said with a soft smile. She meant it too. While she would have preferred White turning into a Grass-type, like herself, a Mienshao was graceful and elegant, while tough and skilled, everything her Trainer was. White was speedy enough, but added with the skills of a Mienshao, she was even more powerful.

"Alright," White said, standing up. "I think we better get moving before something else unexpected happens. I don't think I can take too many more surprises, you guys?"

"Nope."

"No."

"Uh-uh."

"Then let's get moving."

The foursome then began to tread again, White thinking hard. "I think I should tell N, whenever we see him again."

Snivy groaned. She disliked N with a burning passion.

"He might be able to help, Snivy," White said. Snivy stopped. Okay, maybe she could tolerate the green-haired guy long enough for them to get some more answers. They all lapsed into silence for the time being.

The back of the bath house was completely different, the walls unadorned and a grey color, some places stained in soot or mold, the tall top casting a shadow over the back that made it look dark and creepy. White hopped down the last few steps, her ears there again before she drew on her mental image and they returned to normal. If it was going to happen every time she did physical stuff, White was going to dig out her cap and slap it on. A grey-green metal door with a tiny window was stuck in the wall, the same White had seen in the directions N had implanted her with. It was the door to the boiler room, where Kamaji should be.

"So…" White said looking at the door with a mix of fear and anticipation. "Whose ready to meet Kamaji?"

"…I'd pass if it weren't crucial to freeing Bianca and Cheren," Snivy replied with the others agreeing.

"I would too," White said embarrassed.

She shook herself slightly and pulled open the door, this time the ears staying down. The Pokémon raced through the opening with White following, closing the door behind her. The entrance they were in was a narrow hall covered in pipes on both sides, smoke and steam streaming out from little leaks. It was fairly hot in there, as expected in a boiler room. White and the Pokémon stepped quietly down the hall, an orange glow guiding them forward through the shadows. White and Snivy peeked around the corner together, the Snivy wrapped around White's neck, while Oshawott and Tepig glanced down lower.

There was the massive boiler. It was a ridiculously gigantic piece of iron equipment that reached up to the ceiling. At the base of the boiler was an open door that looked over the orange and red flames. A line of tiny, little black puff balls dashed to and fro, dropping large lumps of coal into the furnace. White recognized them as soot sprites, otherwise known as Susuwatari, from her own home and the forest close to where she lived. She smiled at the comforting sight before she turned her eyes to who she expected to be their boss, Kamaji, who was sitting on top of a tall block.

Kamaji looked like any normal aging man, White supposed, his head bald with an overly bushy mustache and a pair of black sunglasses. But unlike a normal man, Kamaji had more than two arms. He had six to be exact, all of them pulling levers, hooking up wire, or grinding up herbs in a mortar and pestle in front of him. One hand paused in its work to whip sweat from his brow and White realized he only had two fingers, along with a thumb, on each hand.

White gulped slightly. Kamaji seemed fairly intimidating and White had only dealt with calmer and much more polite forest spirits back home. Ah how she missed Totoro and his friends…But this wasn't any normal situation. This was so White could secure a job to help save her friends. Besides, if it was fire she was going to be working with, White was diffidently the girl for the job.

She looked at the Pokémon, who nodded encouragingly. White was about to step out to talk to him when Kamaji wrapped a hammer on the side of a hand crank three times. The soot sprites stopped their work and retreated to some tiny holes in the wall. The coal they had been carrying was either taken back with them or thrown into the furnace, depending on how close they were to the little door. White felt more relieved. Now was the perfect time to ask him for a job.

White tenderly stepped out into the warm glow of the furnace and walked towards Kamaji. She was certain he knew she and the Pokémon were there and this was his way of hearing what she had to say. But it was certainly hard to tell, as the man kept grinding up something.

"Hel-hello?" White asked the man. "Excuse me?"

Kamaji looked up at White for about three seconds. Then one of his arms grabbed a teapot, raised it to his mouth, and the old man took a few swigs from it. He went back to his work without another glance. White and Snivy shared a look, before White pulled on her determined face and stepped over to just below Kamaji's work station.

"Hello? White asked again. "Are you Kamaji?"

The old man gave a grunt and a careless glance for another couple of second. But now, he did a double take at the strange girl standing in his boiler room, surprised by her boldness. Her pale blue eyes stared at him with determination as the Snivy curled up around her neck, an Oshawott peaking around her legs with a Tepig sitting by her side. This girl reminded him of someone from long ago, but the past was a place Kamaji rarely dwelled on these days, so he ignored that feeling.

White took in a deep breath and said quickly, "N told me to come to you and ask for work? May I have a job here? Please?" White paused and looked at the man before continuing, "I'm very good at working with fire sir; I've had experience."

The old man stared at her for a little while when, from the ceiling, lavender ropes dropped down. Tied to each of their ends were red cards, come with different yellow shapes or black lines on each. Kamaji, who had been studying White carefully, grimaced and groaned at the sight of the cards.

"Four damn bath tokens at once…" he grumbled angrily as he banged the hammer three times again. "Alright you runts! Back to work!"

Kamaji turned his attention back to White and, though his eyes were hidden by his sunglasses, she could tell his stare had grown hostile.

"Yeah, I'm Kamaji, slave to this accursed boiler and bathhouse," he replied in an annoyed tone. "Hey soot sprites! Move it you lil twerps!" he shouted in a hoarse voice.

"Did he even listen to your request?" Snivy asked underneath her breath.

"Please Mister Kamaji," White requested a little louder. "Can't you give me a job?"

"Bah! I don't need your help, little girl," Kamaji spat. "This place is full of soot. I place an enchantment on it and I have all the work I need from the soot sprites."

At the mention of their names, the Susuwatari poured out of the holes, carrying once again the huge lumps of coal that looked too big for the little creatures to carry. White backed out of the way, as Tepig and Oshawott climbed into her bag, trying to clear a path for them. It didn't work though, as a soot sprite crashed into her foot, squeaking angrily.

"Sorry," White said to it, lifting her foot to let it pass.

It squeaked again before continuing, only for another soot sprite to crash into White's _other _foot. Then number quickly grew to two, then three, then finally ten, as a giant collision was right at her own feet.

"Sorry," White called again, as she made a graceful leap to the side, landing in an empty spot before moving again. "Excuse me. Sorry!" she said as she dodged the soot sprites. White managed to land in an open spot just to the right of the farthest hole on the left. Hopefully, she could keep out of the soot sprites' way and their work.

"Coming through!"

White suddenly leaped into the air, her senses surprising her as one of Kamaji's arm shout out and pulled open a draw, drawing out some stalks of dried purple flowers. White landed on a platform and watched as the arm reached out towards another drawer near the ceiling. It opened it and removed something else. Kamaji's arm returned to his body as he began to mix up the materials he needed.

"Lavender and thyme?" White questioned.

"Know your plants huh? Yeah, lavender water and thyme baths are pretty popular around here kid," Kamaji said as he ground up the stalks and mixed the together.

_Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!_

White heard a few pitiful cries from one of the smaller sprites. It was being crushed by the weight of a piece of coal three times the size of it. White watched in surprise as the other sprites ignored it, gathering their coal and walking up as though nothing was happening. White frowned and set her bag to the side, her heart tugging at the pitiful sight. She walked to the small sprite and lifted its burden from it.

_Squeak? Squeak! Squeak squeak squeak!_

All the other sprites watched in amazement as White lifted the coal off the trapped one's body. White frowned at the weight. It was heavier than she had expected, but she managed to lift it and set it next to her foot. The sprite was relieved and, looking a bit frazzled from being crushed, gave a sort of bow to White before rushing back to a hole.

"Nice work," Oshawott said with a smile.

"It should have done it on its own," Snivy said, crossing her arms. "But it was nice of you to help it out White."

White smiled when Kamaji said to her, "Girl! Finish what you've started!"

White blinked slightly and glanced down at the coal. Finish what she'd started? He must have meant for her to throw the coal into the furnace. White guessed this was a test of some sort, to prove to Kamaji that she could work hard and perhaps land her a job. White bent down and wrapped the sleeves of her jacket around the coal, (don't ask her why, but it felt easier), and picked it up. She lugged it towards the furnace, the Pokémon sitting on the sidelines cheering her on.

"Go White!" Oshawott and Tepig called. Snivy merely clapped her hands together, but nodded encouragingly to her Trainer.

White smiled softly, it felt like she could do anything with her partner and new Pokémon friends cheering her on. The other soot sprites cleared up a path for White. They watched with excitement and anticipation was White reached the furnace. The door of it, instead of staying open, would open and close every few second, allowing for coal to be thrown in one piece at a time. White prepared for the toss, timing it just right. With a flick of her wrist, the coal shot into the flames and was consumed by the fire. White grinned and dusted her soot-stained, sleeve covered hands.

The soot sprites squeaked to one another, amazed by what they had seen. One quickly dropped its coal on itself and pretended that it was being crushed, clearly wanting White's help. Soon, a whole crowd had gathered at White's feet, following suit. White looked surprised as the pile of coal built up around her, the Pokémon moving to her to help move it away.

"Hey you little soot balls! Get back to work else I'll crush you all!" Kamaji threatened, holding his hammer like a club. "And you human. You can't just take someone else's job! If these soot sprites don't work, their spell wears off and they turn back to regular soot. Now go. There's no work for you here. Try somewhere else." He sighed and looked slightly sad. "Sorry kid."

White sighed and the Pokémon hung their heads. That plan was bust. But the soot sprites began to squeak angrily at Kamaji. They were all upset at him for trying to turn her away, they could tell this girl would be a good worker and wanted her to stay. They crowded around her, stopping her from leaving.

"You soot balls got a problem? Get back to work!" Kamaji snapped angrily, pointing his hammer at them.

At that moment, a small door, more a like a wooden panel, slide open from the wall. A woman climbed through. She was tall and young, with green-black hair that fell to her waist, a wooden bucket around her arm. White noticed that her nails were a little longer than most and a pink feather was tucked behind her ear. Her shape was very thin too, lithe and without curves. White realized this woman was no doubt a half human-half Pokémon creature, perhaps a Sneasle.

"Hey, I brought lunch," she announced. "Whoa, what's going on here? Another fight?"

The woman removed a china bowl with unusual food from her bucket. Kamaji rapped his hammer on the wheel three times again and said, "Alright, break time you soot runts!"

The woman passed the china bowl to Kamaji. "Now where's your other bowl? The one from yesterday?" Kamaji passed her an empty bowl. "Ugh, I keep telling you to leave your dirty dishes outside so I can pick them up." She then turned away from the old man as he started to eat, bending over the edge of the platform and digging her hand into the wooden basket. The soot sprites abandoned White, heading for the Sneasle woman. She tossed out star-shaped sprinkles to the little sprites, who grabbed one or two each and began to nibble on them. White smiled as she watched them run about. They made her feel a little homesick.

Suddenly, the woman turned her head towards White and gasped. Her face visibly paled as she pointed at White and the crowd of Pokémon around her. "A human! You're the one everyone's looking for!"

"Dang it," Snivy said.

"We're busted," Oshawott sweat dropped.

Tepig merely sighed.

"She's my granddaughter," Kamaji said simply as he continued to eat his food. Everyone stared at him, but he ignored it all.

"She says she wants to work here. But…I've got all the help I need around here. Can you take her to see Yubaba for me?" he asked casually. "She's a tough little girl. I think she can handle it."

"Wha? Are you freakin' kidding me?" the woman asked. She crossed her arms and turned up her nose. "I'm _not _smuggling a human around here."

Kamaji had figured this would happen so he brought out his ace-in-the-hole. He waved a honey-yellow hardened candy to the woman.

"Not even for a sweet honey Poffin?" he asked.

The woman opened an eye, tempted beyond words. The last time she had had such a delicacy was last year.

"Listen kid," Kamaji said to White, "If you want a job so badly, you'll have to make a deal with Yubaba. She…"

"She rules over the bathhouse, I know," White said, finishing for him.

"Smart girl," he said with a smile, a hand reaching out and patting her head.

With a groan, the woman snatched up the offered treat from Kamaji and dumped the remaining sprinkles. "I give up, old man. Come on kid. Follow me if you want to get to Yubaba alive."

"Yes ma'am. Coming," White said with a bow before climbing over the small mountain of coal, the Pokémon leaping after her. She lifted up her bag and scrambled to the woman's side.

White removed her shoes, (her grandmother had taught her it was a custom among bathhouses), and placed them on the floor.

"You won't need those," the woman expressed.

White nodded and caught a little glimpse of eager soot sprites gazing over her shoes before she walked with the woman. Before White slipped through the door, she turned back to Kamaji and said, "Thank you so much, Kamaji."

He gave her a thumb's up and a smile. "Good luck, girl. You'll need it."

White nodded and she and Snivy closed the door after themselves.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

**Yup! White's been turned into a Pokémon too, but she has control over it, unlike her friends. And she's met Kamaji and she's on her way with a familiar character (a few minor changes) through the bathhouse to get to Yubaba. Next chapter? On its way!**


	5. The Contract

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**This is officially the fastest Fanfiction I've ever done! Don't worry though, I'm still working on all the others and I'll get around the posting the new chapter of Reshiram's Hero soon enough. Just enjoy the fanfic please, and review for the spirit and soul! Thanks again to Riley Sky for inspiring me.**

**Disclaimer time! White, mind doing it for me?**

**White: Sure thing WhiteOwl. WhiteOwl74 doesn't own Pokémon or Spirited Away or the Hunger Games. You'll see why in a little bit. Anyways, review for the continuation of this story and so I can save my friends!**

**Snivy: And so I can deal with N. I don't trust that guy.**

**Moving on to the summary of last chapter. Enjoy the fanfic folks!**

**Review: White was able to get Kamaji's safe and sound, only to discover Kamaji has hordes of soot spirits doing work for him, so no work for her there. A woman pops in and is surprised to see White, but Kamaji convinces her that White's his granddaughter and bribes her to take White up to Yubaba to ask for work. Now on their way to the top, will White make it there okay? **

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White followed after the Sneasle woman who called back to her, "We have to go all the way to the top floor. That's where Yubaba lives."

The two girls and the Pokémon were walking through a large storage room. Snivy hopped around from the different shipping containers before landing on White's shoulder again. The next room they entered was full of winding gears and metal ropes, clacking nosily in the air. White looked up in wonder, watching the gears spin and the ropes climb up the long shaft, pulling elevators up and down.

"Hey! Hurry it up!" the woman cried to White, pulling her from her day dream

The Sneasle woman was in one of the elevator cars and White picked up the pace and hurried into it with the Pokémon. The woman pressed a button, causing the bow to rise up. White and the Pokémon watched in wonder as the wooden box, lacking any siding, allowed to see the sights of the bath house. At first, it was just concrete, but then the elegant floors of the bathhouse started to show again, the walls white with hardwood and decorative banner and scrolls on the wall. There were some workers, human-Pokémon hybrid woman and Politoed-like people.

"Hey, you want to lose your nose?" the woman asked White and the girl pulled away. She had been too close to the side and could have lost her nose, much to her companion's amusement.

They reached the highest floor this elevator could go, despite it not being the top. The woman poked her head out and scanned to see if anyone was coming. She quickly ushered White, Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig out, leading them down the empty halls. The walls had sliding doors decorated with flower designs, depicting the change of the seasons. White was led past a busy kitchen and towards a second elevator. This one was larger than the one before and fancier, the tasteful decor showing it was done with care.

"Are we getting close?" Tepig asked the woman.

"Halfway there, you guys are doing pretty well," the woman acknowledged. She looked at White and sighed. "Alright, which genius told you to come to Kamaji? And don't give me any crap about just wandering in there; no human in their right mind would have climbed down those stairs."

"…N…" White said softly.

The woman's jaw dropped. "N? Green hair, grey-blue eyes, nasty expression on his face, like he's made of stone?"

"Yes, yes…No, not really," White answered as they continued upward.

"Huh," the woman said, in thought. "That doesn't sound like the N I know…"

The elevator stopped, reaching its limit. The doors opened to reveal a tall, wide creature with a tan belly and dark blue fur. Its eyes appeared to be closed with a set of triangular ears. In its large paws was an old and worn umbrella. He barely looked at the woman but took a double take when he saw White.

The woman cringed, upset about this encounter. "Er…The Snorlax forest-spirit!" she said, trying to mask her unease. First Kamaji had bribed her to escort this human, now this guy was going to turn them in, she could just tell.

The Snorlax said nothing, but extended a mighty paw to White, a smile on his face. White grinned in delight and shook it back, before giving him a hug.

"It's good to see you again, Totoro."

"Wha?" the woman said shocked. "You two know each other?"

"He lives in the forest near my house," White said cheerfully. The other Pokémon waved to the friendly spirit. Totoro backed up and growled something to the woman.

"Yes sir, she's stuck here I guess…Taking her to Yubaba's, Kamaji's orders."

Totoro looked at White, an expression of concern, before he nodded. He pointed upwards and grunted.

"This elevator doesn't go any higher, sir. You'll have to use another. Why don't I show you were it is?" the woman asked with a sneaky smile. She led him and White away.

"He asked how he could help, right?" White asked.

"He must really care about you kid, to risk his neck against Yubaba" was all that she got as a reply. But the woman was impressed. This human girl certainly knew about spirits.

The woman "showed" Totoro towards the elevator, White and the Pokémon gazing at the sights. On each of the four walls were room and elevators, the center where the floor should be open to look down at the baths. A series of catwalks and bridges connected the sides together with railings at the sides. Far below, Snivy and White could see numerous baths with spirits and Pokémon relaxing in the steam and soaking in the tubs, enjoying themselves. This bathhouse was obviously one of the bests from what White could see.

The woman beckoned to White discreetly, telling her to pick up the pace. Strangely, no one noticed her appearance, as if she was still under N's spell. Totoro was the center of attention and he waved at familiar spirits and growled "hellos" and "I'll chat with you laters" to his friends. The woman stopped. They had arrived at the most extravagant elevator yet, bright red with gold letters and trim. She pressed on the button and waited for the car to come down. She gave a glance over to White and nudged her forward. She and Totoro then hid her from view, just in case.

The woman couldn't help but think that this girl was strange. Here in an entire building of mystic spirits and monsters, any other human would have run away screeching their heads off. But this young girl was calm and knew Totoro and, most surprising of all, she had made friends with Kamaji, at least enough for him to try and lie for her well being. The woman knew just knew, like how she was so going to get in trouble if she was caught, that this girl, White, was special among humans.

Ding!

The elevator door opened, but it wasn't empty like the last two. Instead, three spirits stood in the elevator, two Jynxs and the other a Granbull, as well as a Politoed worker. The woman and Totoro stepped out of the way, the large Sleeping Pokémon, hiding White behind his bulky size. The Politoed was walking away as the other three Pokémon wandered off to their rooms, when he stopped and sniffed the air suspiciously.

"Lin?" he questioned.

"What?" the woman asked as she shoved White into the elevator, the smaller Pokémon rushing in with her.

White watched as the woman, known as Lin, turned to face the Politoed as Totoro quickly climbed into the elevator with her.

"What is that smell?" the Politoed questioned, sniffing Lin. "It's human! You smell just like a human!"

"Gee, thanks," Lin said sarcastically. Humans were considered by the spirits to be smelly creatures. But this scent was really weird to the Politoed. It was decidedly human, but with tints of fire and Pokémon mixed in as well, masking up much of the human smell.

"Come on Lin, where is it? You're hiding something aren't you?" he questioned her.

White was fearful. If this guy turned just a little bit, he'd spot her and White would be whisked away, leaving Lin in serious trouble. But Totoro casually moved his right arm in front of White, protecting her. Now if the Politoed gave a glance, he'd only spot the Snorlax, Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig, nothing to give him concern.

Lin rolled her eyes and pulled the honey Poffin from her pocket in her apron. "Is this what you smell?" she asked.

The Politoed stared at for a second, a look of surprise running across his face. "Honey…Poffin!" he gasped out. "Gimme some!"

With a smirk, Lin began to wave the Poffin around. "Nope," she said with relish, "I think I'm just going to go and suck on this for a _while_."

"Come on, just a little piece," the Politoed begged, all suspicion forgotten. He made a wild grab for it, shouting, "I'll settle for a lick!"

Lin held it up above her head and called out behind her back, "If you want to go up, just pull on the lever, okay?" To anyone watching, it was assumed she was talking to the Snorlax, who understood the charade and nodded. White wiggled behind Totoro, trying to reach the lever, but she was too far away. Then a green vine wrapped itself around it and Snivy and Oshawott tugged on the vine, causing the lever to go down. The doors closed and the elevator began to rise.

Lin smiled softly as it rose, then popped the Poffin into her mouth and began to suck nosily on it, much to the horror of the Politoed. Lin then started to walk off. Okay, bribed by Kamaji with a honey Poffin, taunting one of her least favorite co-workers, and managing to deliver a human right past his bulbous nose before eating the Poffin right in his face. All in all, Lin realized, the day hadn't been so bad.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

"How's Mei doing?" White asked Totoro as the elevator continued to rise.

The Snorlax spirit was very happy that White was here and the two had begun a pleasant conversation. Since White had left her little house in the country a few months ago, Totoro informed her, many things had happened. Mei was growing like a beanstalk, the oak tree Totoro and the girls had planted years ago was higher than ever, and everything in the forest was wonderful. Starved for details about her home, White listened eagerly to her best spirit friend's talk, event the most mundane bits of trivia were not to be missed.

The talking ended as the elevator stopped and opened the door. But it wasn't the right floor. A hallway revealed a row of sliding doors with the shadows of different spirits and Pokémon behind them. Totoro shook his head and pulled on the lever this time, sending back on their way again. White smiled. It was nice having an old friend with her.

"And…Have you been keeping Grandmother's grave well?" White asked.

Totoro nodded, his head bowed in memory. They both had known the old woman well, she had died of explained causes a few months ago, just before White had left on her journey. The memories of her grandmother were everywhere and she didn't want to stay there for long when the pain was so great. At least her grandmother had met her Partner and had taught her some much of the spirit world. She frowned in thought. Would Grandmother be here now?

Then the elevator slowed down before stopping. The doors slid open to reveal an empty dark hallway. Totoro carefully exited, turned left, then right, searching for anyone. He nodded to White and motioned her to come out. White nodded and stepped out, Snivy around her neck, Oshawott in her bag, and Tepig in her arms. She bowed to Totoro, who bowed back to her, before stepping back into the elevator. He could not help her anymore; it was up to her to face Yubaba. He waved his paw at her and gave her two words of encouragement before the doors shut on the image of her good friend, the umbrella she had given such a long time ago still clasped in his paw.

"Be safe," Totoro had said to her.

"What a nice spirit," Tepig remarked in surprise.

"Yeah, you knew him, White?" Oshawott asked.

"Dope," Snivy said with an eye roll. "That was Totoro, the spirit White's told us about sometimes and Cheren would always say he was an imaginary friend."

Cheren…His very named reminded White of her task. She took a breath and looked around. The room's décor was incredibly fancy yet ominous. It was also pretty cold, with a heavy pressure in the air, but it could have just been the feeling of the situation White felt. White walked forward, passing intricate flower designs on the walls and elegant lanterns that gave off little light. Four humongous vases stood up, two on each side of White, as though they created an aisle to walk between. As White reached the end of the hallway, she found herself at a door with a carving of the strange bird N had shielded her from earlier above it.

This was it. The final step to find her solution. Beyond these doors, Yubaba would be there, and White would have to face her and bargain with her if she wanted to survive and led her friends back to the human world.

"You can do it, White," Snivy hissed encouraging. "I believe in you, as do these guys. And Kamaji, and Lin, and Totoro, too." Tepig and Oshawott nodded to White.

She nodded and smiled. She then squared her shoulders and gathered her senses. She then reached out to grasp the golden handle of the…

"AREN'T YOU EVEN GOING TO KNOCK!"

White stiffened slightly, completely off guard. Snivy's eyes were wide and Tepig had almost tumbled from White's arm. Oshawott lay on the floor, rubbing a small bump on his noggin.

"Huh. You've got to be the most pathetic human I've ever seen," the voice said. White glanced up at the door knocker, shaped like an Arbok, a traditional image in Pokémon culture. It was talking to her! It glared at her angrily before its gaze softened as White gently took it in her hand and knocked it lightly on the door.

"Much better," it told her with a snaky grin. Then the door opened for White. After this door opened, White watched in surprise as another door opened into the next room, which was followed by the next door as well. All the while, a series of doors opened creating a hallway. Oshawott gave a soft gasp as he climbed back into White's tote bag and the other Pokémon were surprised too.

"Thank you," White said kindly to the door knocker, who gave a hiss of pleasure. White was about to start walking when a voice sounded.

"_Well? Come in."_

The voice was hard to say where it was coming from; the series of rooms gave the voice an echoing sound. White was about to call out when the voice sounded again.

"_I said __come in__."_

Without warning, White was lifted a few inched off the ground, into the air, by a mysterious force. She was quickly pulled in through the numerous rooms, each one close right behind her, the Pokémon in their places. White's eyes widened as they moved through the many rooms, past large, antique vases and led with sharp turns. One White had come through the last door, the psychic power released her and White stumbled slightly, but regained her footing quickly. Whether through the Mienshao influences her just dumb luck, White didn't know.

She looked around at the room she was presently in, as did her three companions. The entire room was no doubt fancy, but White barely registered the room as she realized who, or what, was facing her. A trio of Mankey heads jumped around her, surrounding her, staring at her curiously. White stayed silent, but was very much freaked out, as where the Pokémon.

"Quite down you three. You're making a racket."

The heads stopped moving towards her and then started to hop away, throwing occasional glances back to White. She sighed in relief and managed to look around the room again. It was a large office that seemed relaxed, but terrifying too. Fancy antiques and trinkets lined the walls and shelves. A fire was burning in the fireplace, warming the room and providing light. The only other source of light came from an ornate desk a few feet in front of White. Behind it stood (or sat, it was hard to tell), was an old woman with many wrinkles and long grey hair tied up into a strange sort of bun. She was writing some documents on her desk, not bothering to look up from her paperwork, despite the obvious fact she knew White was present. Her nose was pretty long, a wart on the end. Another larger wart was between her eyebrows. From what White could tell, the witch was very short, White was a good couple inches taller and her head was much bigger than her body. This was no doubt Yubaba, the owner of the bathhouse and the one who controlled White's and her friends' fates.

White remained silent for a moment, waiting for the woman to pause in her work, but nothing happened for quite some time. White gulped slightly before she asked, "Excuse me ma'am. But, I was wondering if you could please give me a job?"

The writing stopped and Yubaba looked up. She raised a hand and pressed her thumb and pointer finger together before making a horizontal motion, as though she was closing a zipper. White's lips sealed shut. She couldn't speak and the Pokémon gaped in astonishment, surprise, and concern.

White let out a soft whimper, despite the binds, but her face remained calm.

Yubaba snickered slightly. "I don't want to hear such a stupid request, girl. You're just a rotten, useless weakling. There is certainly no place for humans here."

White's eyes narrowed in anger. She was not weak or stupid. Oh if only Yubaba knew who and what she was!

"Hey! Let her go," Snivy shouted at the witch in anger. It would have been bad enough if Yubaba had insulted her, but instead, she was insulting White, the Trainer Snivy herself had chosen from three! Snivys didn't just let people pick them, there were certain criteria among their species for picking a good Trainer, and Snivy would have chewed off her own tail before she had picked a weak Trainer. White wasn't weak, but a strong honest human who understood what Snivy liked and this brave girl was able to make friends where no one else could.

Yubaba glared at Snivy before holding up a fist. In a flash, a bolt of lightning had escaped her grasp and fired at the little Grass-type. Snivy let out a howl and White let out a stifled screech as her partner fell to the ground, in a daze. Oshawott and Tepig hurried to her and helped her stand up right before White scooped her up into her arms. White traced a hand over Snivy's forehead, trying to coo through sealed lips. Her eyes then darted upwards to glare at Yubaba.

Yubaba snickered again. "This place is a bath house for the spirits. It where they come to rest and replenish themselves." She took out a pipe, using her flame-lit finger to light it. "And you humans…You always make a mess of things. Like those two companions of yours. They've got what they've deserved. You should be punished too."

White's eyes widened. She could turn into a Mienshao, but she had an idea that Yubaba meant a permanent transformation, like her friends'. Then her eyes hardened slightly. This was the witch who had hurt Snivy, her partner, sealed her mouth, and turned her friends into Pokémon. What other sick twisted idea did Yubaba in her head?

"I could turn you into a Ralts," Yubaba expressed, breathing out a dense cloud of smoke. "Or…Perhaps you prefer a little Eevee?"

Silence came from White. She didn't shiver, despite her fear.

"Humph, you're a brave girl, I'll give you that," Yubaba said with a smirk. "As it is, I'm surprised and impressed that you've made it this far. But I'm positive that you had some help. Just who was it dear? Why don't you thank them? Hm?"

Yubaba was just about to snap her fingers again to free White from the spell, when White clenched her fist and took in a deep breath before exhaling and loosening her hand. Her eyes flicked and she…opened her mouth and said calmly, "A friend who you need not know their name. As I said before, I've come to ask for a job, ma'am."

Yubaba was slightly shocked to find that the girl had rid herself of her charm, but hid it from her face. White had come to a decision. She would not expose the people who had helped her, not even think their names in case that Yubaba could read minds. And she was going to protect Snivy and the others, even if it meant revealing things she didn't want to expose to the witch.

"Don't start with that again," Yubaba snapped.

"Please; I just want to work!"

'DON'T. SAY. THAT!" Yubaba shouted, wind coming from nowhere.

Suddenly, she jumped into the air and flew straight at White, her blue dress streaming out behind her. White stood up straight and tall, not flinching as the witch landed in front of her, her face fuming. The Pokémon stood up tall too, Snivy glaring at the witch from her new perch at White's neck.

"Why in the world should I give _you_ a job? Anyone can see you're an overconfident, stubborn, rough and tumble little girl who lacks sophistication!" Yubaba shouted at White, pointing her finger at her. White narrowed her eyes and stood her ground.

"Watch your mouth, you arrogant bitch," Snivy hissed angrily. She was tired of taking crap from the witch and was itching to fight.

Yubaba ignored Snivy and continued on, "This is high class place I'm running here, kid. So there's no job for you here. Now…Get out, I've got all the lazy bums I need here."

White let out a soft growl. Kamaji was working his fingers to the bone in the boiler room and Lin looked tired and harassed. The entire building was full of spirits that were working hard. They weren't lazy to White and she doubted that Yubaba went around checking up on her employees much either.

"Or..." Yubaba said with a wicked grin, seeing White's refusal to leave. "Maybe," she said evilly as her hand went to White's shoulder, her nails like talons, itching their way to the young girl's throat. White stiffened at the contact, a flicker of fear showing in her eyes. "I'll give you the most difficult job of all and work you until you breathe your very, last, breath."

There was no telling how the Pokémon were going to react when suddenly something disturbed the entire scene in front of their eyes.

Boom…boom…BOOM!

The floor shook. Books flew from the shelves and scattered, loose papers fluttering to the ground. Something large was coming and whatever it was, Yubaba stopped tormenting White and more. With each boom, the earthquake, despite the height, grew worse and the damage being done increased. The fire blew out, along with Yubaba's threats and she removed her fingers from White's neck. At that point, a loud, wailing baby could be heard. Then again, with lungs like that, where _couldn't _it be heard?

WAAAAAHHH!

KABOOM!

The emerald colored door near Yubaba's desk was suddenly smashed to pieces by a baby's foot. This foot however, was gigantic!

"Ah dear! You woke up the baby!" Yubaba cried in a much softer voice, releasing her pressure on White, who gasped with relief.

The witch ran over to the door and began to coo in a soothing tone so different from the voice that had just, moments ago, been yelling at White. Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott all shared a look, a grim expression on each of their faces. They knew the one way to secure White a job. All it would take would be to raise theirs and Yubaba's voices.

"Eh?" Yubaba said, looking back to White. "Why are you still here? I told you to leave!"

"Come on witch! Give this girl a job already!" Snivy shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Shush! You'll scare my baby!" Yubaba hissed.

"With a person like you as its mother, I can see why!" Oshawott cried out.

Yubaba's eye twitched, but before she could say anything, the trio of Pokémon began to shout, "Give her a job! Give her a job!" screeching as loud as they could.

"Guys, no," White begged, not wanting them to get hurt.

BAM!

A giant bang was heard as it the baby kicked Yubaba right in the face, much to the Pokémon's amusement. Yubaba was torn. Her baby was crying and she kept trying to calm him down, but it wasn't going so well. In fact, it was steadily getting worse.

"We won't leave until you give her a job!" Snivy shouted over the noise.

Yubaba snarled. "If she can prove her worth, she's got a job! Calm down my baby without setting foot into his room and you've got it! If you fail…I'm sure my son would love a little Ralts for a pet, at least until he tears its arms off in a temper tantrum."

Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig gulped worriedly. The stakes were high, but so was the reward. White chewed her lip, everything was moving so fast to her! But this was her only shot at securing a position so she nodded and said, "I'll do it!"

"Excellent! Now, get over here and calm him down! And don't set foot into his room!" Yubaba shouted as White raced over to the door.

She peered in through the darkness, but she couldn't make anything out, save for a large darker shape in the corner. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, before opening her mouth.

"_Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a soft green pillow," _White sang in a slow, beautiful voice, the song dripping out of her mouth like honey, smooth and sweet, and the lullaby drifted in the baby's room. The wailing was still there, but it was growing softer, being lulled into quite by the lyrics. Yubaba watched in wonder as the young girl began to calm her son, the first one to try besides herself.

"_Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes. For when they open, the sun will rise. Here it's safe here its warm, here the daisies will guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place, where I love you."_

The baby had stopped its wailing, only making soft fussing sounds. White was so wrapped up in her singing and Yubaba with watching the girl, that neither one, nor the Pokémon, noticed the door open, ever so slightly. A single eye appeared, watching the scene. It saw a tall, brave girl sing her heart out, lulling a temperamental child to sleep, something no one had ever done before. It stayed there as its owner listened to the next part of White's song.

"_Deep in the meadow, hidden far away. A cloak of leaves a moonbeam ray. Forget your woes, and let your trouble lay. For when its morning, they'll wash away. Here its safe here its warm, here the daisies will guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place, where I love you."_

White sighed and listened carefully. The baby had stopped it fussing during the third verse and now all she could hear was a soft yawning. She smiled and turned Yubaba, her expression calm. The witch looked at her, her expression one of surprise and weariness.

"A deals a deal," Yubaba muttered under her breath. "Alright, you get the job. Just a minute." She then retreated back into her baby's room, where she busied herself on checking up one him.

White let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She looked a each one of the Pokemon, relief in their eyes. They knew that the boy wouldn't resist White's melody, but that hadn't been sure if he would have fallen to sleep so quickly.

"That," White said crossing her arms and raising an eye brow, "was a very big risk."

"Was there any other option?" Snivy asked.

White sighed and shook her head. "But, thank you, a;; three of you."

"It was almost fair using screaming baby as an advantage. Well…Almost," Tepig said after a moment's reflection.

A rustling could be heard as White watched a piece of paper flutter up and float in front of her. A pen came upwards too and they pair hovered in front og here. The fire in the fireplace came back on as all the knocked over object were being magically placed back where they belonged.

"That's your contract."

Yubaba entered the room, picking out splinters from her tangled hair, content that her baby was asleep.

"Sign your name down here and I'll put you to work, any certain conditions needed?"

"You don't really need to pay me, all I want is for my friends to return to normal and for all of us to go home," White said. "Once I've payed back all the worth of the spirit food Bianca and Cheren ate and the cost of two magic spells to return them to humans, we'll be on our way and you won't have to see us ever again."

"Hmmm," Yubaba said. Not paying the girl was good, despite the loss of two people that she could perhaps put to work in the bathhouse eventually. The staff was fed and housed as part of their contracts and were paid every month. It would take a while to pay back all the food and the enchantments and probably by then, the girl would have forgotten everything about the human world. "That's actually a pretty fair bargain. But…If I hear on little complaint, you'll be able to join your friends and perhaps my son will have a cute Eevee singing him lullabies."

White nodded, relieved that the terms were agreed upon. She plucked the sheet up paper from the air and took it to a small table, placing the sheet down. She lifted the pen and carefully read through the contract, looking for any loopholes Yubaba might have slipped in before writing out her full name, "White Hilda Tokou," (白ヒルダ月 in Japanese as well, just in case), at the bottom of the page. A single little, white ear, hidden beneath a lock of hair, could clearly hear Yubaba's complaints.

"Can't believe I took that stupid oath. Give a job to anyone who asks…ridiculous…I just hate being so nice all the time…Just plain ridiculous…" Yubaba tugged on a rope three times, sending a silent signal. The eye at the door disappeared from view.

"Are you done yet?" she asked, the paper flying from beneath White's hand just as she finished the last o. "Hmm…White Hilda Touko…That a rather cute name, despite it being a color. Why on earth did your parents name you that?"

"My grandmother gave me that name because…" White bowed her head at the memory. "Because she thought it was pretty."

"Humph," Yubaba muttered. She waved a hand across the contract. She then held her hand in a sort of a pulling motion, as if slowly yanking invisible strings. Following the action, both sets of White's name rose into the air, leaving only two things on the paper, the name _Lea _and the symbol リー, after much rearranging on the paper. The other letters of White's name floated slowly into Yubaba's hand then vanished.

"And it belongs to me now," Yubaba stated. "From now on, your name shall be Lea. Got that?"

White was surprised. Lea? As in "castle, meadow, weary"?

"ANSWER ME LEA!" Yubaba shouted, but not loud enough to wake her son.

"Yes ma'am," White shouted, bowing quickly, as did the Pokémon, who were surprised at the turn of events.

"…You called for me?" a male voice called from White's right.

"Uh?" she asked, turning to see a familiar face. It was N, standing at the door, his grey-blue eyes stony and cold, his face stoic and not portraying any emotion.

"That guy?" Oshawott whispered slightly.

"Knew he was no good," Snivy hissed in victory as he went towards Yubaba, not even looking at White.

"This girl signed a contract. Set her up with a job," Yubaba ordered to him, as though this sort of thing occurred often.

N nodded and said, "Right," before he glanced at White. "What's your name?"

White was stunned and sad at the fact he had forgotten, having known her name before she had introduced herself, but perhaps this was another of Yubaba's tests. "Whi-Lea. I'm Lea."

"Well then, Lea. Follow me," N said as he headed for the door. White gave one last bow to Yubaba before she and the Pokémon left the room after him.

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N led her to the elevator, not speaking. His face was expressionless, not a hint of emotion. As though he had never known her or the Pokémon. Why was he acting so cold? What had happened to the young man who had helped them all earlier? The boy who had said he'd always be her ally and friend? This wasn't making much sense to White, but nothing in this bathhouse made sense.

The Pokémon were surprised by his change in behavior too, but Snivy took it as a good thing. Now she could be as cold to him as she wanted.

N remained silent as he thought. White had secured the job, much to his relief. He'd just have to keep up the façade for a little while longer, then perhaps get a chance to speak to her.

White chewed on her bottom lip softly. She raised her eyes to look at N. Never before had he looked so…Distant. Maybe she should talk to him.

"Er…N…I…"

"Don't talk to me," he interrupted her in a harsh, cold tone. "And you'll refer to me as _master _N."

White shrunk back, if only slightly. Okay, something was wrong with N. Was he bipolar or something? Snivy hissed at him, all too happy to take out some of the bottled up anger she had been storing up, just for him. N ignored her, thinking about how he had just snapped at White. As much as he wanted to tell her everything, he couldn't yet, not with prying eyes and ears everywhere in the bathhouse.

N froze slightly as White sighed and bowed her head and whispered in her soft, sweet voice, "Yes master N."

Snivy was surprised. Submission? From White? This was unheard off, at least for the Grass-Pokémon. Tepig and Oshawott were confused too. White never put up with rudeness, but the day was late and they assumed White was exhausted, especially after what had happened in a single day.

Snivy then grasped White's hand in her hers and looked up at her with her brown eyes. White caught sight of her and gave a frail, but real smile down to her.

The elevator dinged and White shuffled in after N, the Pokémon trailing after them both. White didn't even looked at N, neither did he. But the two snuck glances at the other from the mirrored sides of the car, each at separate times. Snivy was the only Pokémon who noticed during the entire silent elevator ride. She just hissed half-heartedly, the trials of the day catching up with her. White raised her head up to the elevator shaft, wondering what was ahead of her and the Pokémon in the strange world of the spirits, the world the young girl had often heard of as a child, but never imagined she would come here herself.

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**Okay, so White's been approved and starts work tomorrow. But she's concerned about N's change in moods. And here we are, reading both their minds! So readers, what's going on next? What's up with N? And what sort of work will White have to deal with? Next chap coming soon!**

**The name Lea means "weary" and, in another spelling, also stands for castle and meadow. Lea is made up of some of White's full name and was given to her since White was as sturdy and strong as a castle's walls, graceful as a meadow in spring, and, Yubaba hopes, she'll become weary of her memories and forget the world she came from.**

**And some references to the world and home White lived in prior to journeying to the spirit world. A little sister, Mei, a now deceased grandmother, and Totoro, a kind forest Snorlax who conveniently was at the bathhouse at the same time. Maybe I'll do a fanfic about how White and Mei met Totoro in the first place, but all in due time. Which isn't right now.**


	6. A New Home?

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Okay everybody who's readying, as you can guess the new chapter is up. Read to learn more about White and friends as they get settled in Yubaba's bathhouse. Sorry if the chapter's short, I've got other things to do as well.**

**N? Mind doing the disclaimer this time?**

**N: Fine. WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon nor Spirited Away. All she owns are the pervious stories she's written and the character development. I'm leaving now.**

…**Well he's a happy camper huh?**

**Summary of last chap: Lin led White to the top, with some help from Totoro, an old friend of White's. After reaching the top, White bargains with Yubaba, only her determination and the witch's son allowing her to get a position, even if one was indirect. N appears again, but he's much colder to White now and doesn't even seem to acknowledge her. Now having a job, what will become of White?**

N guided White down a set of stairs that led the to the employees quarters. Many of the spirits that worked their watched in surprise as the stone-hearted boy led the human girl to the counter, the trio of Pokémon in White's arms.

"Forget it," the Shiny Politoed, who was clearly the head of the employees, behind the desk said after N had explained what was going on. "I don't care if Yubaba'll get upset with us. We're not adding a human to our ranks."

"Too late for that, she already signed a contract," N said nonchalantly.

"What?" someone asked shocked as the whispers and murmurs went around everywhere before White gave a gentle bow.

"I promise to work hard, everyone."

"We're not having her in our department," an Amphorous-woman said, her light glowing angrily.

"She smells," complained a Meowth girl as she covered her nose with a fan.

"No more than you," Snivy hissed to the girl, who looked shocked.

"Why do you stand up for this human?"

"Because she's my Trainer, the one _I _picked." White embarrassed at the remark, ducked her head slightly.

"We don't want her," another Politoed said bluntly.

N looked around and said calmly, "Three days of eating our food and her smell will disappear. And if she doesn't work hard, do whatever you want with her. Rip her heart out for all I care."

A few of the employees smirked as White stiffened slightly. Oshawott's jaw dropped and Tepig cuddled closer to White as if to calm her. Snivy, however, lost it. She almost shot out at N, had White not grabbed the wiggling Snake-Grass Pokémon in her arms.

"You bastard! What the hell are you playing at? If you so much as touch her, I'll rip out _your _heart!" Snivy shouted as she tried to escape White's grip.

"It would be a very small organ," Tepig rumbled quietly.

N didn't react except to say, "Now get back to work. Where's Lin?" as the crowd began to scatter, sad that Snivy wasn't able to attack N, they didn't quite like him very much.

"What?" Lin asked from where she leaned against the wall, the crowd grinning at her misfortune. "You are _not _dumping her on me!"

"You said you wanted an assistant," N said calmly, ignoring her anger.

"Great idea," the Shiny Politoed at the desk said with a smirk. "Give this girl to Lin!"

"Oh great," muttered the Sneasle-spirit.

"Lea," N said, White turning her head to him, "Get going."

"Right," she said quickly, running over to Lin's side, leaving N to watch her carefully.

"You owe me for this N," Lin called over her shoulder as she turned to walk out of the room.

"Have a nice _day_," called the Shiny Politoed with a smirk. N stood where he was for the time being.

"Oh leave me alone," Lin said to him leaving the room. She turned back and motioned to White, "Come on, Lea."

White nodded and walked forward, unaware that N watched her progress until she left the room. He then turned away and headed elsewhere; relieved he had placed White with a friendly spirit.

White hurried after Lin, wondering about everything. At least she knew Lin, even though the Sneasle-Spirit didn't seem to like her that much. At least, White thought that until Lin led her into an empty hallway and turned around, her face in a large smile.

"I can't believe you pulled it off!" she expressed, cheerful.

"Wha?"

"You're such a dope. I was really worried about all four of you." Lin smiled and ruffled White's hair gently. "Now keep on your toes and paws boys and girls. If you need anything, just let me know. I'm here to help you okay?"

"Thanks Lin," White said, relieved to have a friend. Snivy was much calmer no and managed a nod while Tepig and Oshawott gave a bow to the woman. Then White sighed and lowered her head.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Lin asked, concerned.

"I…Don't feel so well, White whispered softly. Indeed, she and the Pokémon were weary and needed rest, not to mention food. The tiny berry N had slipped into her mouth seemed so long ago. Lin gathered what was going on and nodded.

"Come on, let's get you settled," Lin said, putting an arm around White's shoulder, leading her down the hall.

The room Lin led her to was a simple, small one with wooden floors; a pair of girls already asleep on their mats. Lin walked in and went to the cupboards installed in the walls. White noticed the balcony across from the door that would provide a nice view.

"Okay," Lin said. "This is our room. After you get some food and a bit of sleep you guys will be fine."

Lin turned around and dropped a deep blue apron into White's hands. "That's your apron. Ya' got to wash it yourself though, completely sucks right? And your pants," she added, dropping some pink cloth into her hands as well. "Now…For your shirt…Ugh, you're one of those complicated sizes, right? Not too big, not too small. Hmm," she wondered, holding up a large pink shirt and giving a quick looked to White. "Too big," she decided and continued to search through.

White looked at the cloths in her arms and felt a wave of accomplishment. She had gotten a job at the bathhouse, despite the odds, thanks to Kamaji, Lin, and Totoro. And the trio of Pokémon who milled at her feet too. If it wasn't for them, Yubaba would probably have become exasperated with her and turned her into a pet for her son. And if N hadn't told her at the beginning…

N. That concerned White a fair bit. She looked at her new friend and mentor and asked, "Lin?"

"Yeah?" she asked, holding up the tenth shirt, this time too small, before tossing it on the growing pile on the floor.

"Um…You know N right?"

"What about him?" Lin asked, her tone become bitter. It was clear that N wasn't her favorite person.

"There's not…Two of them, are there?" White asked. Maybe N had an identical twin or something similar.

"_Two _Ns?" Lin asked with a snort. "I can barely stand _one _of him. Grr. What is it with not finding the right size? Anyways, N's Yubaba's henchman. Does whatever she says. Don't trust a single word he says, okay?"

That blew White's theory out of the water. And had N been lying to her, way back then? If so…Why? Why did he help them only to blow her off? If he was really Yubaba's right hand, then what was she going to do now? How was she going to free her friends now? What if they remained Pokémon forever? Those dark thoughts swam through her head and White let out a slight whimper of sadness, feeling alone for a moment, as the pain of it all swept down to her stomach. She frowned and stood up straight again.

She wasn't alone. She had Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott right by her, and Lin and Kamaji supported her too. She was going to do it; she'd free Bianca and Cheren or die trying.

"Ah! Found it!" Lin cried happily, lifting a shirt into the air that would fit White. "Here you are Lea…Hey, you okay?" she asked as she saw silent tears streaming down the girl's face.

"Oh!" White said, hastily rubbing her cheeks. "Yes I'm fine. I've come too far to give up now."

"That's my Trainer," Snivy said with a smile. Tepig and Oshawott grinned happily. White was back and boy was she ready.

"Okay," Lin said, pulling out some blankets and stuff. "Here's your stuff for bed, okay?"

"Thanks Lin," White said. "For everything."

Lin was touched and she smiled. "Hey, better thank the boiler man next time you see him, 'kay?"

"'Kay."

A while later, after getting a bit of food, White was laying down in her bed, wearing a blue top and her pink pants, her old clothes gone now. But she managed to keep her bag and that was the important thing. The lights were out and everyone else was asleep. Even Tepig and Oshawott had managed to find some sweet dreams, curled up in the crook behind White's knees. Snivy stayed awake with her Trainer, however, as she stared up at the ceiling deep in thought.

Carefully, the girl glanced around, before digging into her bag silently, removing a blue cloth-bound book and a pencil. She put the pencil in her mouth and glanced around again. When she saw everyone was still asleep, White gently snapped her fingers together. A spark of blue flames appeared at her fingertip and expanded. She then let the dull blue orb float in the air as she opened the book and began to write in it, putting down every detail of what had happened since the moment she had stepped through the gates. Snivy sat at her shoulder and reminded her of lost details or bits of trivia.

They continued in this fashion for quite some time, the small globe of flames illuminating their works. After every bit was written down, White stowed her journal back into her bag and beckoned to the flames. They floated gently into White's hand, where she raised them to her lips and drank them. The fire went down her throat, giving White a gentle tickling sensation as the warmth spread throughout her body. She sighed and settled down, Snivy lying by her head. White drifted off into a fit of uneasy sleep as the moon rose higher into the sky outside the window.

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Deep in the middle of the night, as White tossed and turned restlessly, N was walking up a curving set of stone stairs, upwards to Yubaba's floor. He didn't risk the elevator, for fear of waking anyone up. He soon reached the top and found Yubaba waiting for him. The Mankey heads were all lined up and a Murkrow with a woman's head sat perched on the railing outside the open doors. Yubaba was wearing a black cloak that was wrapped securely around herself before she went outside.

N and the Mankey heads bowed in respect. Yubaba hopped up onto the railing as she transformed into the Honchkrow White had seen earlier. After a moment, Yubaba leaped up into the air and began to fly, the Murkrow trailing after her. They disappeared into the distance as the Mankey heads hopped away.

N calmly turned off the light before closing the door. Now that Yubaba was gone, not to return for several hours, he had something important he needed and wanted to do.

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**Well folks, that it with this chapter! **

**White's been introduced to everyone and, although they don't like her that much, Lin bonds with the young girl. Late into the night, White shows she can summon flames. How is she able to do it? And what is N up to?**

**Wait 'till next chapter! I promise it'll be good.**


	7. Comfort Among Friends

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Hi everybody! Man this story is going fast! I hope everybody is enjoy this fanfic because I'm enjoying writing this fanfic. I think I should do more Pokémon-Studio Ghibli crossovers, starting with ****Howl's Moving Castle**** and ****My Neighbor Totoro****. There's going to be a few changes, obviously to make this story more original, just a heads up. But anyways, Lin, mind doing the honors of the disclaimer?**

**Lin: Sure. 'Kay listen up, WhiteOwl74 doesn't own Pokémon or Spirited Away. If she did, she'd have made a sequel involving Haku's and Chirhiro's child returning to the spirit world.**

**Yup! That sounds like something I would do. Anyways, moving onward to the summary before the chapter!**

**Summary: N showed White/Lea to the worker's quarters, where she wasn't warmly received. Lin showed White to their room, the two girls becoming friends quickly. As the night continued, White was the only one up with Snivy and she made flames to help her write. After she finished, she ate the flames and fell asleep. Around the same time or so, N saw Yubaba off before going off to do something very important. Let's find out what it was!**

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The morning dawned bright, dew glittering on the stone walls. The lanterns turned off as it grew lighter. Inside the employee rooms at the bathhouse, everyone was asleep, save White lay shaking on her blankets. She was tired, but she kept waking up throughout the night, concerned about her friends. Tepig, Oshawott, and Snivy were all curled up, but lay awake like White. They too had had a difficult night.

White shivered as she thought of all the ways her friends could be harmed by Yubaba when she heard the door open. She stiffened and remained still. She had no clue who it was, but she was fairly certain it was for her. She heard soft footsteps, cushioned by blankets as the person tread on the edges of the blankets that lay scattered about.

White shut her eyes quickly and feigned sleep, as did the Pokémon. The footsteps paused at her blanket and a gentle, warm had come to rest on her blanket covered shoulder. White kept still.

"Meet me at the bridge, I'll take you to your friends," N's voice whispered to White. He stood up slowly and left.

As soon as the door closed behind him, White sat up. She and the Pokémon shared a look. N might be Yubaba's personal errand boy and who knows what else, but if this was the only way to see Bianca and Cheren, even for a short time, they were going to have to take the chance. White rose to her knees and picked up her pink shirt, distaste on her face. White didn't like the color pink much, but she would have to deal with it.

A minute or two later, the door slid open and White stepped out, blinking into the sun, Snivy around her neck, Oshawott and Tepig walking at her feet. Snivy had tied the white strings into a bow on White's back and White had pulled her hair back up into its customary Ponyta tail.

The four of them went on their way, the halls empty. White was eager to practice her transformation abilities, so she allowed the ears and the tail to show up, if only for now. Once they reached the elevators, White opened a door in the wall and they began their descent down the stairs.

In the boiler room, Kamaji lay on his station, blankets covering him as he snored, still wearing his black sunglasses White gently opened the sliding door in the woodwork and they crawled through before White closed it securely behind them. She looked around, confused.

"What's wrong?" Tepig asked.

"My shoes are gone."

As she said that, the little soot sprites emerged from the holes in the walls. A large crowd of them carried White's shoes between themselves. They stopped right in front of White, who smiled and picked them up.

"Thank you," she said. She then removed her socks and slipped her shoes on, tapping one of the toes of the shoe onto the floor before she headed for the metal door. The soot sprites followed her until she reached the landing. White grasped the door handle and turned to the soot sprites. They were jumping in the air, squeaking good byes to her. She gave a wave, as did the Pokémon, before she opened the door and they headed out, the door closing carefully behind them.

White led the climb to the top, Snivy right behind her, followed by Tepig and Oshawott. The climb was diffidently longer than the ride down had been, but nobody was afraid of the height now.

"Ya' know?" Oshawott said, "This is a whole lot easier when it's daytime."

"You've got that right," Tepig agreed.

White smiled, her tail bobbing happily. She paused to look at something. On a cliff in front of her, were three stables. White was sure they were the same ones N had led them through last night.

"Think that's were Bianca and Cheren are?" Snivy asked.

"Yes," White said, before continuing on their journey. They reached the top and walked through the garden, allowing White to turn back to her normal form. It had been discussed that they should not mention it to N after all, unless he proved to be someone they could trust.

They soon emerged from the little door in the wall and were in front of the bathhouse. White turned to the bridge to look for N, but she saw someone, or something else. It was the same spirit from last night, the black one with the mask who had seen her. He was staring at her again.

Oshawott let out a slight whimper, but White took a breath and walked forward. When she reached the spirit, she gave it a customary bow, before picking up her pace, the Pokémon bounding after her. The spirit watched her with interest as she passed. As soon as White reached the end, she turned back to look for the spirit, but it had disappeared. White checked again, when she heard someone walking towards her.

She turned to find N standing there. He nodded to her and said, "Follow me," before he turned away to lead. The Pokémon shared a look, but White followed without complaint so they did too.

N led them through the gardens, past rows of blooms White had never seen before.

"We don't have much time," he told White. "If you're found here, you'll be turned into a Pokémon yourself."

After a few moments, the pair, plus three Pokémon emerged from the bushes. They were on top of a hill that over looked the stables White had seen earlier.

"You must never come here without me. Understand?"

"I understand," White said as he led them down the gently sloping hill.

Inside the stable, like the night before, were cages and pens full of Pokémon. In a pen right in front of the door N had shown White through, were two Pokémon, separated from the rest. One was a Deerling with a green hat and the other was a Purrloin with red glasses. The Purrloin was hunched over in a corner with the Deerling besides him, nudging him gently.

White walked forward, hesitant, before turning to N. He nodded to her. Then White threw herself forward, placing her hands on the railing that kept her friends locked up.

"Cheren! Bianca! It's me!" She shouted, the Pokémon crowding up against the bars too.

The Deerling turned and stared at them for a moment, before it let out a squeal and raced over.

"You're okay!" Bianca shouted, head-butting her head on White's hand that reached over the top of the pen. White smiled at her friend and stroked her head for a moment.

"Bianca," Oshawott said, crying gently

Bianca turned to her partner and said, "Oshawott! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'm so glad you're alive!" He began to cry harder. "Yubaba was going to try and kill you for sure!"

"I'm fine, but…Um…Tepig, can you try and talk to Cheren?" Bianca looked back to the Purrloin who still sat all hunched up in the corner, mumbling something to himself.

"What's wrong with him?" Tepig asked fearfully.

"Nothing serious," Bianca reassured. "Just…You know how he's really serious and stuff? Well…All the spirits are kind breaking the rules of science and I think he's having a break down."

White rapped on the railing, causing Cheren to look up. His eyes widened before he shook his head and muttered, "This isn't real. It's only a dream. Nothing more."

"See what I mean?" Bianca asked White. She gazed at Cheren sadly, before concentrating hard. A moment later, two little white ears were poking out from her hair and a purple tipped cream tail swished back and forth for Cheren to see.

Cheren said nothing as he fell over. Bianca gasped. White began to talk.

"Cheren this is the spirit world, you two have been turned into Pokémon and so have I, but since you broke the contact, I can go back and forth. Cheren, please come back, okay?"

Cheren got up and looked at her carefully before he began to shout. "HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU!? WHO IS THAT GUY! WHEN CAN WE GET OUT OF HERE?"

"Who's…Oh," Bianca said with a little giggle, seeing N for the first time. The way he looked at White, somewhat surprised by her transformation but understanding too, and the close proximity they shared told Bianca that something was going on between the two. She giggled again, imagining White and this strange boy holding hands as they walked across a beach at sunset. Bianca was a bit of a romantic and she often painted herself these same images, most of the time though between herself and someone else.

"Spell," White began. "You disrupted it. He's N…Shit…I'll explain these later okay?" she asked him, pointing to her ears. N nodded slightly, his expression neutral again. "And…As soon as I can pay off a debt." Her expression hardened and she shouted, "Don't worry though! I promise I'm going to work at the bathhouse until we can all go home! So you two stay out of trouble and don't try to escape or they'll kill you!" White then ran out of the stable, unable to be in there any longer, tears falling from her eyes.

"Oh!" Bianca said as White disappeared. "She's okay, right?"

"I think so. Just overcome with everything that's going on. I'll go after in a minute. Please reframe from escaping; they will kill you if you try." N quickly left after White and the Pokémon, after a quick goodbye, followed, leaving Bianca and Cheren alone.

"Damn," Cheren muttered. "Looks like we're stuck here for a while."

Bianca just giggled. Cheren was still cute to her, even in Purrloin form, especially when his face scrunched up a bit. But other things were on her mind too. "Did you see the way that N guy was staring at her? I think he's in…_Love_." Bianca breathed, her eyes closing with a smile. "Ah…The Tranquil and the Combee."

Cheren's eyes narrowed. "If he tries to make a move on White, I swear to Arceus, I'll kill him…Now what was I going to do…Oh yeah." Cheren then stalked back to his "emo corner" and hunkered down, zoning out again. "I wish I'd never been born…Why have all the things I've believed been crushed…"

Bianca sweat dropped. "I hope White can pay off this debt fast…"

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

White sat, curled up behind a bush with purple flowers, N standing next to her and the Pokémon at her feet. No one said anything for the time being. White's ears were pressed against her skull with her tail limply lying on the ground, like a rope. N reached inside his shirt and pulled out a stack of clothes. He held his arm out to White.

"Here are your clothes," he said to her. "Hide them." White lifted her head and looked at them in surprise before taking them.

"I thought they were thrown away!"

"You'll need them to get back home," N said with a smile before he sat down next to White. Snivy hissed and climbed up onto White's lap, to keep a better eye on him. He ignored her, instead reaching back into his shirt and pulled out a bundle White dug into her pocket, checking for something. She pulled out a laminated card with her picture and her name. Her Trainer card.

"This is my Trainer card," she said aloud. "_White Hilda Touko_…_White_…That's my name isn't it!" she asked to N, who nodded. The Pokémon gasped, they had somehow come to believe that her name was Lea, but everything came rushing back to them.

"That's how Yubaba controls you," N explained. "She steals your name and replaces it. So hold onto that card, keep it hidden but close, so you never forget it. And while you're here, you must answer and call yourself Lea."

"I can't believe I had forgotten my own name," White said stunned. Up until then, she had thought her name was Lea. "She almost took it away."

N nodded slightly. "If you completely forget it, you'll never find your way home." He looked off into the distance. "I've tried everything to remember mine."

"You can't remember your name?" White asked, upset for her friend.

"No..." N said, turning to her with a smile. "But somehow, for some reason, I can remember yours." He passed opened the bundle to reveal a small pile of rice balls and offered them to her. "Here you go. Eat this, you must be hungry."

White sighed and said, "No thank you."

"Don't worry; the only spell is one that I put of them. It's going to help you get your strength back. Go on, eat them," he said to her.

White hesitantly plucked one up and raised it to her mouth. She took a small bite and chewed experimentally. Her eyes widened and she took another bite, chewing then swallowing before having another. White chewed as tears dribbled down her cheeks. She was unaware of them for a few moments before she stuffed the last of the rice ball into her mouth and swallowed. Then she let out a wail and covered her face with her hands, sobbing.

N wrapped an arm around her as White released all the tears she had held, crying over everything that had happened since yesterday. "Have some more, you'll be alright. There's nothing wrong about shedding some tears."

After a while, White quieted down and looked at N. He gave her a comforting smile and nodded to the other rice balls. She took one and broke it up into three pieces, handing them to the Pokémon, who had nestled up to her, comforting her as well. Snivy sniffed and turned her nose up to the offered food, still suspicious of N, but the others gobbled theirs down. White smiled despite the tears. Snivy would eat it as soon as White looked away. White then picked up the other rice ball and ate it despite her sobbing. When it was gone, the two sat there for a while, N still holding White. Neither one minded actually.

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"I've got to go now," N said, as he and White walked out of the garden's gate. "But I'll be back soon to help you. Juts stay out of trouble 'till I get back."

"Thank you N, you're a good friend," White said turning to him.

"Now…About your ears…"

"Oh that only happens if I want them to or in physical labor stuff. But I can control it so…"

"No it not that, does Yubaba know?"

"No…And I don't want her to," White said, shaking her head.

"That's understandable. I'll keep quiet," N said with a smile.

"It's a façade, right?" White asked him. "The way you act around me and everybody else is completely different. You don't want people to know your nice, right?"

"Yes, I act stoic so they don't bother me. And…I don't really want to make friends here," he said sadly. "Because Yubaba would use them against me. So it's a way to keep them safe from her wrath. So don't get upset if I have to act like this with you."

"Okay N. I hope you get back safe."

"I'll be fine…Once Snivy stops biting my leg."

Indeed, the Snake-Grass Pokémon had sunk her teeth into the N's lower leg, near his ankle until White cried, "Snivy! Stop that!"

Snivy spat angrily at the ground. "I don't like you. Try anything funny with my Trainer and I will kill you." With that, she returned to White's side. Tepig and Oshawott had gone back to see Bianca and Cheren one last time and were standing with White, looking at each other. They had promised Bianca that if White and N were getting close, they'd stop Snivy from wreaking their relationship. They did agree to Cheren's request as well, that if N hurt her in anyway, they'd kick the guy in a personal spot.

N and White bowed slightly to each other, before White ran off, clutching her clothes to her chest and the Pokémon rushing behind her. N watched her scurry across the bridge.

White looked back to him, once she'd reached the other side. N was gone, but a green-furred Zoroark was dashing away in the opposite direction.

"N!" White said shocked. "He's a Zoroark?" Oshawott and Tepig gasped while Snivy grimaced. This made things a little more difficult. Snivy wanted White's mate to be a strong person, and few things were fiercer than a Zoroark. But he still rubbed off of her as a bad person, so it Snivy was going to keep trying to separate them.

Then White realized that she'd be late if she didn't hurry up and they all ran for the little gate. While stopping at Kamaji, White would drop off her clothes and shoes to the soot sprites. And…Maybe stop for a few minutes to rest.

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Kamaji let out a yawn and twisted his head backwards. He was only slightly surprised to see White lying there, asleep with her clothes tucked under her cheek. The Pokémon lay around her, snoozing gently.

Kamaji stretched an arm over to her and shook her awake. "Lea! You better get going before they realize you're gone!"

"OH!" White cried as she woke up. She dropped her shoes and clothes down to the soot sprites, who carried them off into their holes. "Thanks Kamaji. For everything!"

"Hurry up, don't want to be late for your first day, right?" he asked with a smile.

She nodded and she scampered to the door and she left with the Pokémon, rushing back towards the employee quarters, unaware about how her first day on the job would be.

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**All done!**

**I left Bianca and Cheren keep themselves because isn't hilarious reading about Cheren's emo corner? And Bianca's imagining that White and N have a relationship huh? We'll have to see!**

**N knows about White's transformation, but not about the flames. And soon, it's going to be White's first day on the job. And a little cute scene between N and White, much to Snivy's anger, huh? So keep reading!**


	8. First Day

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Back again! To all the viewers who are reading this, can I get some constructive criticism? I've done seven chapters and only have one review and its making me sort of confused. **

**Anyways, this time doing the disclaimer is…DUM DUM DUM! Bianca and Cheren! Say hi guys!**

**Bianca: Hey! *Wiggles her Deerling ears happily* Okay! So WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon or Spirited Away, right Cheren? …Cheren?**

**Cheren: *sitting in corner, rocking back and forth* This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This is only a dream. Only a dream…**

…**He still can't believe he's turned into a Purrloin. He'll come to his sense soon, hopefully. Alright then…Time for the chapter!**

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If it wasn't for Kamaji, White would have been late for her first day. White glanced out the windows as she ran past, the clouds showing that it would rain sometime soon. She could just make out the shape of a Honchkrow with a human head, Yubaba, but she didn't know, that flew up to the top of the bath house and beneath her, the town of restaurants was beginning to open up, their lanterns lighting up against the darkness.

White raced into the room just as Lin and the others had begun putting away the sleeping stuff.

Lin grabbed White and gave her a quick hug before saying, "Lea, where the hell have you been? I looked everywhere! I was really worried about you."

"Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom," White lied as she broke free of Lin's surprise hug and went to put away her blankets.

The bathhouse was busy once more, with workers starting their duties. Lin showed White the ins and outs of the place as well as their duties. White started her work quickly, scrubbing the floors with a few other girls. While not as fast as them, White didn't slip once as she raced back and forth across the floor. The Pokémon were busy too. Snivy has towels in her vines that she used to polish the lamps while the boys held her up, totem pole style: Tepig, Oshawott, and then Snivy.

White was wringing out her cloth when Lin came up to her. "I'm surprised that you can do this work of work, Lea."

"Thanks, I guess. I help clean up our house back home the same way."

"Lin and Lea?" the shiny Politoed said, holding a clipboard in paw, "You two are cleaning the big tub today."

"What! That's work for the Politoeds!" Lin shouted angrily.

"Orders from the top. Get to it, both of you. Take them along as well," he said with a nod to the trio, where Snivy was dunking Oshawott's head into a water bucket, since he had sneezed causing her to fall.

Lin grumbled under her breath before saying, "Hey Lea, mind dumping the water for me? Just go to the sliding door and dump it in the garden, 'kay?"

"On it," White said, lifting the small tub and scrambling off, Snivy releasing Oshawott's head walked away to gather their rags, leaving the other two with Lin.

Oshawott gasped and rubbed his head. "Damn! That girl can be ruthless!"

"You're a Water-type though," Tepig said confused. "Can't you breathe underwater?"

"Yeah, but don't you remember? She smacked me upside the head before that!"

Lin chuckled as she gathered the supplies they would need, before going back to cursing angrily.

White had found a window that opened to the garden and was dumping the water. She smiled and looked up. "Huh?" she asked as she saw that one spirit again, standing alone in the rain, staring at her. "Hey mister, are you okay? It's raining out there."

No response from the spirit. Apparently, he couldn't, or wouldn't, talk.

"Lea!" Lin called. "Hurry up!"

"Coming," White called over her shoulder. She turned back to the spirit and smiled. "I'll leave it open for you, okay?"

White then picked up her tub and ran off to join up with Lin. The spirit looked after her before slowly walking to the bath house and climbing in through the window, vanishing from sight.

White followed after Lin, as the Sneasle-Spirit led her towards the giant bathtubs. There were many different sizes, blocked off by private walls for the guests' privacy. Some were inside them, but most of the tubs were being set up by workers.

"Heard you got the big tub Lin!" a girl shouted to her with a smirk.

"Have fun!" another called mockingly.

Lin gritted her teeth. "Shut up you jerks."

The tub they had arrived at was mammoth, and White immediately understood why Lin disliked it. Straw and grass was scattered everywhere, mud plastered on the floor with grime and mold in the tub itself. It was though the tub hadn't been cleaned in months. Kate heard a few Politoeds laughing behind them, but ignored it.

White and Lin started to gather up all the grass while Oshawott, Tepig, and Snivy started to scrub the floors free of mud. White carried the grass into one corner while Lin used a broom to shove it away. That was the easy part. They all climbed into the tub and started to scrub, but their sponges weren't making a dent with all the grime on it.

"Ick…This sludge is really caked on…" Lin said with disgust. "It'll take days to scrub it all away."

"Lin! Lea! You've got customers on the way!" a Politoed called as he passed by, hurrying to do another job.

"Hey! Give us a minute! Even with four other hands, it's going to take a while!" Lin shouted before throwing her sponge down. "This is clearly harassment! Grr…We're going to have to soak all this gunk off…"

"What do you mean?" White asked as she stopped scrubbing.

"Go get an herbal soak token from the foreman. You'll see what I mean," Lin expressed.

White nodded and quickly climbed up to the rim and slid down the side, gently.

"Remember!" Lin called. "Herbal soak token! Got it?"

"Got it! …Hey Lin…Who's the foreman and where is he?"

Lin sighed as the Pokémon climbed out to join White. _This is going to be a long day_, she thought.

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Yubaba was in her office, examining her precious jewel carefully when she felt something. Her spirit senses were off the charts, which was surprising since the bathhouse was full of numerous spirits.

"Something's coming…" She said in a hushed voice.

She quickly gathered the jewels and gems back into their box and hid it away again. She opened the window, ignoring the rain, squinting outside into the distant town.

"What useless, pitiful scum is sneaking about in the rain?" she muttered.

Back in the town, the lights inside the numerous restaurants were turning off, the shop keepers closing up. The only lights on still were the red lanterns as the spirits abandoned the streets. All was quiet, save for one creature.

It was making its way through the town and towards the bath house.

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"I can't waste a token on you. Now get back to work."

The shiny Politoed had turned out to be the foreman and he was unsympathetic as White asked him for the herbal bath token. He seemed to dislike her, for some unexplained reason. This was proven as he passed out other bath tokens freely to the other employees whenever they asked, and sometimes when they didn't. The foreman pulled on a cheerful face for everyone but White, who he glared at fiercely.

"What are you still doing here? I'm not giving you a token!" the foreman told White forcibly, but his manner changed drastically as a guest past. "Relax! Enjoy your stay!"

"One bath token for the Snorlax forest-spirit," requested a Setnet-girl. The foreman passed it over without complaint and the girl glared at White. "So…Why on earth would the Snorlax spirit ask for _you _specifically?"

"Wait…Totoro asked for me?"

"You're on first name basis with him?" the woman asked surprised. White nodded. "Huh…Know him from somewhere?"

"He lives in my backyard. You should go, I don't think Totoro would mind if he had to wait, but I don't want you to get punished by Yubaba," White said with concern. Snivy shot her a look. This woman wasn't being nice to her, why should White be polite to her? Tepig and Oshawott shrugged.

"Ok…ay…" the woman said surprised before walking away.

"Lin told me it has to be a herbal soak token," White pleaded to the foreman.

"Too bad," he replied with a sneer.

"Jerk," Snivy hissed angrily.

From behind the foreman, something started to appear. White let out a soft gasp as the spirit she had left the door open for appeared, or at least his face did. White blinked and tipped her head to him, contemplating if she was seeing things. But the Pokémon saw him too, much to their surprise. The spirit bowed back to her and vanished again. The foreman turned to see what White had been staring at but then he turned to answer the ringing phone.

"Hello, foreman speaking," he said. "Yes everything's…Huh?"

A bath token, the one for the bath White had requested, suddenly rose into the air. Shocked, the foreman tried to grab it, but it zipped past him, landing in White's hands.

"Hey! What the hell…" he said.

"Thank you very much!" White cried, bowing to the still invisible spirit, pleased to have received what she needed, before racing away the Pokémon laughing as they ran after her.

"Hey get back here!" the foreman shouted crossly. "Wait a minute!"

"_WHAT'S GOING ON DOWN THERE!" _Yubaba shouted through the phone, enraged.

"Er, nothing! Nothing at all ma'am," the foreman said hastily.

"_We have an intruder."_ Yubaba warned.

"Is it another human?"

"_I'm not quite sure just yet. Figure it out and report back to me."_

Back at the big tub, Lin was impressed and pleased with the bath token White had returned with.

"Wow, Lea, you got a good one!" Lin said, examining it carefully. "Ready to see how the baths works?"

"Yes please," White said. "Umm…But can you tell me why everybody here hates humans first?"

"Sure. See, most of the spirits here are Pokemon right? So, before we came here, we lived normal lives as Pokemon. Now, a bunch of them are real grumbly about humans, since they catch Pokemon and some are really bad people, abusing them and stuff. Plus, humans have a bad history of destroying nature. In the past few years, things have gotten better, but you get the point right?"

"Yeah," White said sadly. She understood really well. Once, before she moved to her house in the country, there was once a river that led through the city she had lived at. Then, some genius had decided to fill in the river and set up a bunch of apartment buildings. His project had destroyed the wonderful river White had played in during her youth and part of the environment, but it had made him a fortune. White couldn't really blame the poor spirit that had previously lived their if he or she hated humans.

"Yeah, but not only that, you look a lot like a spirit that used to work here," Lin continued.

"Huh?"

"Totally, it was before I started working here, but the foreman has a picture of her on his wall. Didn't you notice it?"

Come to think of it, White had seen a picture but she hadn't paid too much attention to it.

"So anyways, that woman and you look so similar it's not funny. She was a _hi no seirei_ (火の精霊), a fire spirit. She worked here for a while, a model employee apparently, but she could kick your ass in a fight too. She even had a thing going with Kamaji," Lin whispered to White.

"Really?" White asked surprised.

"Apparently, Kamaji was a looked back in his days or something. They had a real love between themselves. But about forty years ago, she just went up and vanished. Left a lot of people sad about her disappearance, Kamaji was heartbroken, but he said he had seen her off before she left. Yubaba was furious, but she backed off for some reason," Lin said with finality.

"Why?"

"No one really knows," Lin said with a shrug. "But her leaving hurts the people she left behind. And you look so much like her…It kind of stings, I guess, seeing you when they really want Moesashi back."

"Moesashi?" White questioned, surprised. She knew that name, other than its meaning of ember.

"Hey, we're supposed to clean this right? Well, I'll tell you more later, once we get this done okay?"

"Okay," White said with a nod.

"Right," Lin said, pulling out a panel on a tree mural. "Right here, there's a loose wooden panel. You open it, grab this rope and attach the bath token." Lin demonstrated it. "Then you yank it and it disappears." Lin did just so and the rope shot upwards in the small cavity. "It goes straight to Kamaji and he sends us our water."

Lin closed the tree panel as another opened up right near the top. A water spout came down right over the bath tub, a rope attached to it.

"Pull the rope to get the water start. Care to do the honors?"

White nodded and scaled to the top of the tub. She grasped the rope securely and yanked on it…A little too hard though. As the water poured out, she slipped do to the slick surface, but managed to catch herself before she tumbled either into the bath or onto the floor. The water began to fill the tub up, with a strange aroma coming from it.

"What's in this water?" White asked, using the rope to stand up again, Snivy leaping onto her shoulder to look over. Oshawott perched on Lin's shoulder to look while Tepig stayed off to the side, water and fire didn't mix well, unless it was _Obake_ _honoo_,which made it worse.

"Dried worm salts and some herbs I think. It's supposed to be good for you," Lin explained, making a slight face at the worm salt part. "And with water this murky, you can't see the sludge on the tub." Lin hopped off the edge of the tub to the floor, Oshawott climbing back up to White and the others. "Yank the rope again when the tub's full. You can let go of the rope, ya' know Lea."

"Oops," White said as she let the rope.

"Okay, I'm going to get us all some breakfast, okay?"

"Thanks Lin," White said as the friendly spirit left the area. White smiled and watched the slowly rising water. Lin was right, it was impossible to see all the gunk and grime that covered the tub. White turned and was about to slide down to the floor when she noticed something in the corner.

It was the same spirit from the foreman's desk and outside. It stood in the corner, watching her with its painted gaze. White slide down the side and stood up as the spirit walked towards her.

"Sorry sir, but the bath's not ready yet," White said.

White noticed that Snivy was baring her fangs as Oshawott held his scallchop and Tepig flew a few sparks from his nose. "What's gotten into you guys?" she whispered softly.

"There's something…Off about him," Snivy said.

The spirit didn't seem to notice the Pokémon's reaction to him, instead holding out his hands to White. In his cupped hands were at least ten different types of bath tokens, some even had a double. "Ah. Ah. Ah," he said to her in a sort of timid way.

"There are so many," White noticed. "Are all of these for me?"

"Ah. Ah," the spirit said with a nod.

It pushed its hands to White, urging her to take the bath tokens. This was getting a little awkward. Was he trying to pay her back for opening the door for him? If he was, he didn't have to give her anything, she'd accept a thank-you.

"Sorry, but I don't need anymore. I just needed one," White explained. "But thank you for your help again, sir."

The spirit was confused. She had been so pleased when he had given her the one earlier. Were they not the ones she liked? He thrust his hands to White again, trying to get her to accept the tokens.

"Really, I'm fine," White said.

"When she says no, my Trainer means it," Snivy hissed. "We're fine with the one token from earlier."

The spirit shrunk back, understanding. The girl didn't want any more tokens, but the kindness she had shown him had to be repaid somehow. He'd figure out what she wanted. The bath tokens slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor as the spirited faded away, before disappearing. White was confused, but she set out to collect the spilled tokens and placed them in her bucket. She'd have to see if she could return them to the foreman later.

"Thanks guys," White said as Oshawott and Snivy set out on helping her collect the tokens.

"What's up with him?' Tepig asked.

"I let him into the bathhouse, maybe he feels like he has to pay me back?" White suggested.

"Who knows?" Snivy said.

"Ya' know…" Oshawott began with a frown. "I feel like we've forgotten something."

"Yeah…" Tepig saidthen frowned as he noticed a growing water puddle on the ground.

"Where did the water come from?" Snivy asked.

"…SHIT! We got distracted we forgot to watch the bathtub!" White shrieked as she hurried up to the rope to pull it, the extra water spilling out onto the floor.

Not the best way to start the first day of a new job, huh?

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**All I can say, next chapter is coming soon. And that White knows why the spirits around there hate her so much. I added this character to add some excitement and drama to this fanfic, you'll understand later. But why does White know the name Moesashi? And who exactly is this mysterious spirit that follows White around everywhere? Stay tuned!**


	9. First Client

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Is it weird to update five chapter all in the same day? I guess that just means I'm doing pretty well, huh? Always, let's move onto the guest disclaimer provider this time…The mysterious spirit! Take it away.**

**MS: "Ah. Ah." *holds up a sign that read, "WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon or Spirited Away. If she did, there would have been a sequel with everybody reappearing at least twice."***

**Wow…Everyone in this fanfic knows me so well! Alright, to the summary, then the chapter! (If you are a soulless person, you must skip the summary. Shame on you and your children. If you don't have kids, shame to your pet.)**

**Summary: White's first day on the job and she's almost late. She and Lin start to clean the big tub, but White has to run and get a bath token. The foreman refuses, but the spirit White had let into the building steals one for her. Back at the tub, Lin reveals why everybody hates White, due to human pollution and the fact that she resembles a missing spirit so much. Then, while Lin left to get food, the spirit shows up again and offers White more stolen tokens. She refuses politely and the spirit disappears, leaving White and the Pokémon to clean up the spilled over bathwater. **

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Yubaba rushed down to the bathhouse's entrance with such incredible speed that even the foreman was surprised.

"Seems we've got a stink spirit," Yubaba said with a glare at the curtains.

"And an extra smelly one," the foreman noted.

"I see we're failing to drive it away," Yubaba noted angrily.

"We're trying. We've got some men waving their arms, telling it we're closed. But it won't listen and many og them have passed out from the very stench of this creature. Lombre's the in infirmary."

Yubaba frowned in though. "Something's fishy…Almost as if it's not really a stink spirit. But…We've got no choice, I suppose. Just get it cleaned up as quick as you can and send it off."

"Yes ma'am," the foreman said with a bow.

"And send Lea down here too," Yubaba added after a moment's though.

"Lea?" the foreman asked surprised.

"Yes, Lea. Got a problem with my choice?" Yubaba asked with a raised eyebrow. "Or would you rather handle this yourself?"

The foreman rushed off to find White, who had finished cleaning up the spilled water by letting a thin glove of fire to coat her hand, waving it over the water and causing it to evaporate. (Oshawott and Snivy had helped by soaked up the water while Tepig set a bit of the straw left over on fire and holding it over the puddles.) The Politoed marched in just moments after White had stifled the flames and led her to the front of the bathhouse. Everything was rather chaotic. Politoed were urging the guests to return to their rooms and Totoro managed to shoot White a questioning look as he wandered to the elevator. White wondered what was going on.

Yubaba impatiently waited for her in the front lobby. "Lea! Don't mess this up," she snapped angrily. "Tale our guest to the big bathtub and look after him."

"Uh! But…I…" White began, unsure of how to handle her first guest without help.

"No but's or I'll turn you into a Feebas!" Yubaba snarled, shutting White up.

"Here it comes!" someone shouted. White noticed that many of the other workers, were a far distance from her and Yubaba, trying to get as far away as they could from the front door.

White saw a dark, hulking shape and heard slushy footsteps heading towards the front. An odor filled the air that was so vile it caused all the other staff to run off. It smelled like a mixture of sewage waste, rotten meat, Garbodor stench, and a strong hint of petrifying crap and urine. White, Snivy, and Oshawott instinctively covered their noses with their hands/paws (Tepig's eyes watered as he was unable to do anything, but hold his tail over his nose. He wished he could evolve right on the spot so he could cover his nose better), all cringing in disgust over the most nauseating stink ever.

"Hands down," Yubaba hissed through clenched teeth, although she was equally disgusted. "You'll insult our guest!"

White and the other lowered their hands reluctantly. Snivy was the worst, her face turning a soft green in the cream parts. Since snakes could taste the air with their tongues, she kept her mouth closed to spare herself the horror of actually tasting the odor.

They all wanted to lift their hands to their noses again as the figure pushed through the curtains, staining them, and slowly trudged to Yubaba, White, and the Pokémon It was a disgusting combination of a Muk, Garbodor, and a Trubbish. The spirit was covered in a thick, brown goo with a sticky purple ooze gushing out of its pores and all over the floors. White resisted the urge to barf, as did the Pokemon.

"Ack…Ik…W-Welcome, vauled customer," Yubaba greeted awkwardly, her teeth closed tight and a few loose hairs sticking out of her bun.

The entire lobby was full of the cik ooze now. The sstink spirit hels out its hand to White.

"Oh…Lea, it's money! Take the nice customer's money!" Yubaba order, stadnign aside.

"Yes, ma'am," White answere with a gulp.

White cupped her palms together and held them out. The thick glop of goop dropped into White's hands, gold coins shininig dully through the gunk. The cold, icky feeling of the ooze trickling through her fingers made White shiver throughout her spine, her hand poofing out and her tail and ears appearing, but her ears were hidden beneath her locks and her tail was shivering underneath her pants. White had taken precautions for emergencies. She tucked the money into her pocket, her movements badly shaken.

"Don't make it wait Lea. Get him into the baths," Yubaba ordered.

White inched away slowly, the Pokemon following, heading towards the baths. "R…right this way, please," she managed to mumble as she led the spirit from the lobby and down the halls. Lin was walking back to the big tub with their food when she spotted White leading the stink spirit forward.

"LEA!" she shouted, concerned about her little friend when she caught a whiff of the smell. Lin cringed at it, sickening down to her very stomach. The rice bowls she carried spoiled from the putrid air. "No," Lin moaned. "Not our food!"

Yubaba recovered quickly from the odor and rushed to one of the higher floors. "Open all the windows," she ordered to the foreman who shouted the instructions to other workers. Then she found a spot to watch White far below, still leading the spirit to the bath.

"Hang in there," Oshawott said. "You're doing well."

"Thanks. Why isn't Snivy saying anything?" White asked quietly.

"Remember how snakes taste with their tongues?" Tepig asked her.

White nodded, understanding, and gave a pat to the Snake-Grass Pokémon. The stink spirit's slime was knee-deep now in the bath room, White squished through the muck to stand by the wall as the spirit slimbed up the tub and dived straight into the water.

FHUUUUUMMMM!

A gaint tidal wave of water swept over White's head, soaking her through before it turned a murky brown color. Snivy tumbled from White's shoulder and landed face first into the contaminated water, earning a mouthful of it. She let out a strangled yell and spat furiously, trying to rid herself of the taste. Oshawott fired a Water Gun into her mouth, cleansing her tongue.

"Thanks," Snivy said with a smile to him.

"Anytime," he said with a grin.

White smiled but frowned as the stink spirit's head rose from the water and stared at its 'hands" in disappointment. It turned to her and let out a low rumble.

White understood what it meant. It wanted more water to wash away the filth. White frowned, trying to think of a way when she saw the floating bucket by her waist, full of red and black cards and Tepig, who had climbed in. The idea popped into her head.

"Just a moment please," White said before turning to the Pokémon. "Oshawott, can you use Water Gun on the stink spirit for a bit while the rest of us search for the panel?"

"On it," the Water-type said, swimming through the muck and firing a quick blast of water on the spirit.

"Snivy, do you remember which panel it was?"

The Grass Pokemon nodded.

"Okay, let's get this spirit some more water," White said, grasping the bucket full of bath tokens and Tepig and moving forward.

Yubaba watched White from up above as she struggled to get through the slop.

"Heh heh heh…Disgusting," the witched said with a smirk.

"I don't think it's very funny," the foreman mumbled. He might hate the girl, but even she didn't deserve that kind of torture.

"Let's she what's she up to," Yubaba said.

Snivy pointed to the trunk of a painted tree and White wrapped on its side for a moment. The sound was hallow. She began to pound on it to get it to open.

"Oh-ho! Going to get more water, hmm?" Yubaba asked, entertained.

"Ah no! She'll waste all of our good water," the foreman groaned.

White was able to open it, and picked up a token from the bucket. She tried to attach the clip to the card but her hands were covered in sludge and its slipped between her fingers. She picked up another and tried again, much more careful. She was successful and she yanked on the cord, sending the token straight to Kamaji in the boiler room. In a minute, the panel at the top opened up with the pipe.

"Eh? Who gave her all those bath tokens?" Yubaba asked, surprised and confused.

"Don't look at me," the foreman said, shaking his head.

White made the difficult trek through the deep gunk, Oshawott leaving the spirit and coming to help her. Snivy and he pressed against her and helped pull her along as she tugged the bucket with her. White then began to climb to the top of the tub, where the rope dangled to her. The stink spirit gave a rumble, its rancid breath right in White's face. She stiffened and would have fainted, had Oshawott not fired a quick Water Gun at her. She shook her head and reached up. She grasped the rope and gave a tug.

But the surface was slippery and so White tumbled into the bath tub, along with all three of the Pokémon.

WHOOOOOOSSSSSHHH!

A heavy flow of warm water gushed out from the spout and dumped itself onto the stink spirit. The tub quickly overflowed, flooding the floors again, similar to a waterfall. White had managed to shove the Pokémon into the basket and push it upwards, allowing them to gasp in relief as oxygen flowed into their bodies again. White tried to swim up, but she was stuck. Oshawott dove for her and helped her upwards. White gasped and drew in as much air as she could, almost choking.

The stink spirit lifted them into its hand and pulled it closer to its side. White was pressed against the spirit, her hand feeling around the side of its massive body, eventually tracing a strange, foreign object. She couldn't see it through the water, so she, Oshawott, and Snivy stuck their head in and decided to take a look for it.

"LEA!"

Lin came into the room; armed with a face mask and a mop. She looked like she was ready for battle against germs.

"D-don't worry! Stay there! I'm coming to help you!" Lin called out.

White, Oshawott, and Snivy yanked their heads back out from the water, White's hair wet and plastered to her face. "There's a thorn in this guy's side. Big one. Wedged deep in there," White called to Lin. "I think he needs help!"

"A thorn?" Lin asked, surprised.

White grasped it between her hands and tugged, but it was stuck. "I can't get it out!"

That got Yubaba's attention. Her mind quickly scanned through the numerous possibilities before she realized what was occurring before her eyes. She turned to the foreman and said, "Get the staff down there, right now."

Surprised, but always following order, the foreman called for everyone to head downstairs as Yubaba jumped off the ledge and floated down to the top of the panels.

"Listen to me, Lea! That's no stink spirit we've got on out hands!" Yubaba twirled her hands, creating an extremely long rope. "Grab onto this and tied it around the object!"

Yubaba tossed a rope end to White, who caught it with ease. She nodded and tried to tied it around the thorn, but it was fairly difficult as the rope kept slipping off. Snivy and Oshawott guided her hands and assited her. While the trio did this, Tepig hopped out of the bucket and ran to help the entire staff as they grabbed the robe and prepared themselces. The customers, Totoro included, watched from their floors in amazement.

"It's on tight!" White called up to Yubaba as she and the Pokémon swam over to Lin and joined her holding the robpe.

"Everybody ready?" Yubaba shouted. A pair of fans popped into her hands as she cried, "And…HEAVE!"

"HEAVE!"

White pulled on the rope along with everybody else. Every few second, there was another chant of 'heave'. It was a difficult task, pulling the rope, and it seemed that no progress was being made. But after a minute, White felt the rope come closer to her, the thorn being pulled out as well. A spurt of blood and muck exited from around the thorn as the spirit rumbled in pain. The shape became clearer to White, who stared at it with confusion.

"Is that a bike?" White asked, astonished.

Yubaba nodded, "Just as I thought. Get ready! HEAVE!"

White climbed back up the bathtub, wrenching the bike out, and she could see other things attached to the bike. Suddenly, all at once, a bunch of grime coated items poured out from the spirit. It was a gigantic pile of garbage: bottles, window frames, ruined and broken furniture, a worn fridge, oil barrels…You name it, it was there.

White saw that a single item clung to the spirit now, a fishing lure, old and rusted as though it has been there for decades. White, Snivy, and Oshawott nodded as White stretched her hands and yanked the lure out.

Pop! Ssssssssssssssssshhhhhh!

The water stopped flowing from the pipe and stink spirit seemed to shrink. A torrent of water wrapped itself around White, Snivy, and Oshawott, protecting them from the extreme tidal wave that swept over the staff far below. A heavy mist blanketed the area.

"LEA!" Lin shouted hysterically, Tepig in her arms. "Lea! Where are you!"

White was inside a bubble full of water, hidden by the mist. And yet, whenever she took a breath bubbles filled her lips, providing her lungs with fresh, clean air. The same with Snivy. The three of them could see that, from the bathtub, a lone silhouette had appeared, not disturbing the surface of the water. It was difficult to say what it was, but White could tell it was long, skinny, and it looked dragon-like. It faced her and gave her a bow.

"_Well done…"_

The silhouette faded and the mist died down. White and the two Pokémon were lowered to the tub, the water releasing them. White felt something in her previously empty hands. She looked to see a soft, green ball nestled between her cupped palms. The water drained from the room, save for what remained in the tub. For a moment, there was nothing but silence throughout the entire building.

A gasp rang out from the employees. For within the garbage, glittering yellow flecks danced in the now clean water.

"Gold!" someone cried out and the staff made a mad dash to collect every bit they could.

"Hey!" the foreman cried. "That's company property!" But everyone ignored him

"Get away you idiots!" Yubaba snarled. "Our guest is still here!"

The water in the tub rumbled. Whatever that lay inside, it was about to come out.

"White, you're in our guest's way."

"Sorry," White cried, giving a polite bow and stepping down, along with the Pokémon.

"Open the main gate!" Yubaba order a crew that opened the massive doors.

KABOOM!

A single Pokémon shot out of the water like a cannon. A beautiful Dragonair, its' white wings shining and its' blue scales shimmering. The orbs on its neck and tail-tile sparked in the light. The magnificent dragon let out a cry of joy and flew through the bathhouse. All of the level of the bathhouse, guest and employee alike, burst into applause and cheers as the wonderful Dragonair flew off into the still rainy night. Totoro and his friends dance about happily higher up, glad that their friend was healed. Yubaba went up to White and threw her arms around her in a surprise hug.

"Lea, you die great! We made so much money!" Yubaba told her as she releashed her grip. "That spirit's very rich and powerful! One of the most famous int eh whole world!"

"I'm just glad I could help," White said her eyes filled with wonder as she continued to watch the Dragonair's retreat.

Yubaba turned to the employees. "Everyone should learn from Lea. How about we have a party? Food is on the house tonight! Chefs, whip up something special!"

The employees cheered again as Lin walked over to White in a rush.

"But first, hand over all the gold you picked up."

The employees groaned.

"What do you mean give it back?" a girl whined.

"That's no fair," another cried.

Unbeknowst to them all, the black spirit from earlier was sitting in the hallway, watching them. The little flecks of gold seemed to be something all of them valued, he thought. He knew how he could pay Lea back. But first…He needed a way to speak with her. He faded from view.

White was the only one who didn't complain. There was no use to debating with Yubaba, but many tried to negotiate. Herself? She was content with helping the river spirit. It had felt good seeing the lovely Pokemon fly away, free of contamination and pollution. And…She had a little gift too. White smiled at the strange present before tucking it safely away.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

The party that night? One word. _Epic. _First White had been lifted up by the entire staff and carried all the way up to their floor, amidst cheering and laughter. Then it was followed by dancing to weirdly played music, but White danced with them all, being asked by several Politoed, but the one person she want to be there…N still hadn't returned from his mission. Snivy and Oshawott danced too, while Tepig, wrapped in towels along with other Fire-type hybrids, bobbed his head to the music. The dancing was followed by the food. White and the Pokémon had a bite of at least every dish, although she passed on the alcohol, still not being old enough to drink.

But the best part? When a bunch of employees went up to her and apologized for their behavior to her. It meant that she was finally being accepted despite being a human and a look alike to Moesashi. It made her smile, as the party kept rocking, White and the Pokémon stepped out for a while to sit outside and enjoy the serenity of nature.

"Hey," Lin called to White, carrying two plates full of dumplings.

"I swiped some dumplings for you and the Pokémon," she said with a smile, passing a plate to White.

"Thanks Lin," White said with a smile. She passed one to each of the three Pokémon before taking one for herself.

"What a day, huh?" Lin asked, taking a bite of her own dumpling and chewing contently.

"Yeah," White agreed, chewing on her own dumpling. Her thoughts turned to the one person who wasn't present for the party. N…"Um…Lin? Have you seen N?"

"Not N again," Lin groaned, chewing some more. "He just disappears sometimes. Does Yubaba's dirty work and all that kind of crap. At least, that's the rumor that floats around here."

Did he really? White wasn't so sure. He had helped her get a job, took her to her friends, and all the adive he had given her, not to mention not telling Yubaba about the incorrect spell. N was her ally, her friend, just as he had told her. The cold shoulder had been hurtful and the rumors weren't very pleasant, but N wasn't all that bad, White realized.

"Lights out Lin!"

"Fine," she said as she sat with White, content to be relaxing with her friend. The lights went out and the moon came from behind the cloud, lighting up the night sky and the large sea beneath them. Distant islands that had once been hills rested and the far away lights looked like other towns. How far out did this world reach? It made White curious.

"It looks like an ocean," White whispered.

"That's from all the rain," Lin explained.

The train passed by, its lights skimming the water. White watched it chug away.

"I've got to get out of here," Lin said with a sigh. "Someday I'm going to get on that train and travel somewhere far away."

White smiled and pulled out the gift from the Dragonair.

"What's that Lea?" Lin asked.

"The Dragonair spirit gave it to me/" White lifted it to her nose. "It smells like medicine." White held it to her mouth and took a tiny piece of skin, curious at the taste.

"What's it taste like?" Oshawott asked curiously.

"ACK!" White shouted, looking sick, she leaned over the railing and gagged violently.

"Lea!" Lin said concerned. "You okay?"

White nodded and quickly chowed down on the remainders of her dumpling, trying to rid herself of the taste.

"Now you know how I felt when I swallowed that gunk," Snivy said sympathetically to White. "Thanks again for washing it out," she said to Oshawott with a smile. He blushed.

"And you're telling me off for being friendly with N?" White asked Snivy with a grin. Snivy's eyes widened at her Trainer's teasing tone, and thus began the teasing argument of a century, one side; including White, Lin, and Tepig, and Snivy on the other arguing that Snivy had a crush on Oshawott. Oshawott remained out of the argument, but listened to it carefully, blushing slightly since he had the slightest feelings for his Grass companion.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

A Zoroark bounded about across the sea. He had completed his assignment from Yubaba, but he had a personal stop to make. If he did it right, he'd be able to help White.

_White_…He thought, a peculiar feeling buzzing through his heart. Granted, White was a human, but she had been turned into a Pokemon. And her way with flames…He could only imagine where it came from, but perhaps White was not as human as one would have thought.

His destination was in sight. He grimaced. As much as he hated to do this, how else could he help White? Besides, he was going to return it as soon as he broke White's friends' spell. He wondered what White was doing right now. He had a sneaking suspicion that her two friends were enjoying each other's company in more ways than one.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Far away in the stable, Bianca and Cheren were cuddled up together. An employee had snuck in and deposited them some good food, saying she was a friend of Lea, White's spirit name. They had had a good evening and Bianca snuggled closer to Cheren. Suddenly, Cheren sneezed furiously.

"Hey…You okay?" Bianca asked with a yawn.

"Yeah…Just…weird..." the Purrloin said before shrugging and settling back down to sleep.

"Night Bianca."

"Night Cheren."

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**Interesting character development huh? White helping a Water spirit and earning a gift. And what do you think about the little fluff at the end? Anyone Pro Snivy-Oshawott for this story?**

**Anyways, will White every reveal her unique powers? When will N return?**


	10. Blood and the New Guest

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Alright new chapter! This fanfic is going by so fast…Once it's all done, I'll do some editing and cleanup work on it. So…Take it away, White!**

**White: Okay! WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon or Spirited Away…Why do we keep having to do this, though?**

**N: It's just so people don't try to sue, I think. Keep reading to find out what is going on, please.**

**Summary: Yubaba told White to see to the stink spirit and White used the bath tokens she got from the spirit to help clean it up. There, she discovered what was alike a thorn in its body and got the entire staff to help pull it out. It was really a bike and after a while, the stink spirit was revealed to be a Dragonair. It gave White a gift, a medicine ball, before flying off. There was a party that night and White was welcomed into the staff better. She and Lin talked for a bit before they broke into an argument with Snivy. Far away, N was done with his mission, but was making a stop for something that could help White. What was N trying to get? What's going to happen? Read to find out!**

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It was in the early dark hours, when something stirred. While the rest of the bathhouse slept, a Pokémon scuttled through the building and tried to stay quiet. Lombre had managed to sneak into the bath tubs and scurry all the way to the back, where the big bath tub laid. It was cleaned up, but still closed off to thoroughly make sure it was safe to use again so all the contamination wasn't harmful to the other guests. But Lombre ignored the warnings to stay out and went in anyways.

"There's got to be some gold in here somewhere…" He mumbled.

Lombre was hoping the other employees and Yubaba missed a speck of gold or two. Couldn't hurt to look. He_ really_ wanted that money.

Clink!

"Huh?" Lombre asked as a gold pebble dropped from the top of the bath. Lombre grabbed it right away and inspected it. Sure enough! Real gold!

"Gold! And it's all mine!" Lombre gasped, overjoyed.

He looked up. The strange spirit White had seen before was now inside the bath tub. It sat there, watching the Brass-Water type Pokémon.

"Hey! What're you doing here? Bath's closed." Lombre strictly told it. "Get out you! Shoo!"

The strange spirit held out its palm. From it, two more gold rocks appeared and dropped to the floor, landing at the Water-Grass types feet. Lombre snatched them up.

"More gold! Are…are you giving it to me?" Lombre, asked surprised.

Within its cupped hand, the strange spirit formed a pile of gold. It waved its hand, beckoning Lombre to come to him. The Pokémon clasped the gold pieces tightly, tempted by the wealth. With all that gold, he'd be able to get out of the bathhouse and travel, like he had always wanted. Lombre climbed up the edge of the bath, his eyes focused on the gold.

"Gimme!" Lombre reached for the gold.

But the strange spirit wrapped its hand around the poor Pokémon. It grabbed him and, in a swift movement, ate him. Lombre yelled and kicked from inside for a minute before he became silent. The strange spirit eased back, satisfied from eating him. Since this Pokémon could talk, he could now communicate with Lea and properly thank her with the gold. Then he felt strange as numerous emotions swept over him, he gave a groan at the pain of the horrible feelings as they soared close to the spirit's heart.

"Hey! What's going on!"

The foreman marched in. He heard talking, thinking Lombre was up to no good again. Now he was concerned the Pokémon would be causing trouble for the guests. The foreman went to the big bath tub, not seeing anything.

"Hey boss!"

Gold stones dropped down from above. On top of a wall was the strange spirit. Only now it had a voice as well as frog-like limbs.

"Up here. I'm hungry. Starving! And I want you to serve me!" The spirit said.

"Wait…I know that voice!" The foreman realized.

"Here, I'll pay ya up front." The spirit dropped a massive amount of gold onto the foreman. "And I wanna take a bath too. Why don't ya wake everyone up?"

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

White lay curled up into a ball on her blankets, shaking uncontrollably. Tepig and Oshawott were looking nervous while Snivy was gently shaking her shoulders when White woke up with a cry. She lurched upwards, throwing the Grass-type forward. Her blue eyes showed fear and panic before she realized she was awake. She sighed in relief and sunk back down.

"You okay?" Snivy asked as she patted White's hand.

"I…Was having a nightmare…Cheren and Bianca were…I failed," White whispered softly.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay," Snivy soothed.

"We'll save them," Tepig agreed.

"Yup!" Oshawott shouted.

"These spirits are going to have to work harder if they're going to make us fail," Snivy said with a smirk, pointing at herself.

White smiled and sat up to hug them all. "Thank you guys. If there's any better encouragement in the world, I can't imagine it." White glanced around the room, puzzlement sweeping over her face. "Huh? Where is everybody?"

White was right, the room was empty. The blankets lay everywhere, sloppily shoved and wrinkled. Not even Lin was there. White got up and quickly pulled her clothes on. She drew open the door to the balcony. She and the Pokémon looked out onto the water, still a sea stretching out in front of them.

"Oh! There's the stable where Bianca and Cheren are!" Tepig said, pointing it out with his tail.

Indeed, the large stables were off in the distance.

"Can we go visit them again?" Oshawott asked, wagging his tail.

"We can't," White said sadly. "N said we can't go there alone."

"Aw man…" Oshawott said, slapping himself for not remembering.

White looked up at the tall steel chimney that came from the boiler room. To her surprise, a steady stream of black smoke was pouring out.

"Kamaji lit the boiler already? How long was I asleep?"

The Pokémon shrugged. The room had been empty when they had woken up too, but they had been more concerned about White's condition. Together, they headed for the main area of the bath house, which was in full swing. The kitchen was full of noise as Politoed were cooking up a storm, even using leftovers to make new dishes. Pokémon girls raced about with tasks, some carrying food and others carrying empty plates back to the kitchen. Everyone around White was buzzing with excitement as they rushed about, hard at work. White wondered what was going on when she heard a voice.

"Lea!" Lin shouted from the bottom of the stairs. White stared in surprise as the Sneasle-Spirit raced up the steps.

"I was coming to get ya'! Look what I got," Lin said, holding up a small nugget of shiny yellow.

"Gold?" White asked surprised. Had Lin, while cleaning the big tub again, found a remainder from the Dragonair?

"A new guest showed up and he's loaded! He's throwing gold away by the handfuls!" Lin said, her eyes shining. "I'm gonna be able to buy my train tickets sooner than later!"

"Who's the new guest?' White asked, suspicious. Even the most frivolous of the guests that came by didn't simply toss gold about to the workers. A tip now and then, but nothing quite like this. Snivy understood too, a frown forming on her face.

"Who cares?" Lin asked, stowing away her gold pellet. "Come on! Before Yubaba wakes up! We might be able to snatch a few more pieces!"

White thought for a moment. It would be fun to hang out with Lin. But she was more concerned about Bianca and Cheren. She desperately wanted to make sure they were okay. To do so, she'd have to go find N.

"I'm going to find N," White said to Lin.

Lin groaned. "Ugh! Quit worrying about N! He's a grown apprentice; he can take care of himself!" Lin turned back to the stairs. "Let's go! Before he stops handing it out!"

"Come on Lin!" a Vulpix-spirit shouted next to an Audino-spirit.

"Yeah, let's go get some more gold!" Lin cheered as the three girls ran off giggling. White turned away and headed back to the bedrooms, the Pokémon in tow. She quickly scanned the rooms, searching for a sight of the Zoroark-boy, but it didn't seem like he slept in any of the rooms. Where could N be? She hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since yesterday.

"Where is that damn Zoroark?" Snivy hissed.

"If we can't find him, we can't see Bianca or Cheren," Tepig said worriedly.

"I just hope he gets here before I forget what they look like," White said with a sigh.

"You won't," Oshawott said. "'Cause we're here too."

White smiled and patted his little head. He was right, as long as the Pokémon also remembered and they all reminded each other, her friends were safe. White sighed and leaned against the railing, letting her ears reappear and her tail to poke out. Perhaps with the added skills of a Mienshao, she could hear N coming.

Oshawott and Tepig settled down besides her to nap while Snivy climbed her shoulder, in look-out mode. White stroked Snivy gently on the head as they searched the skies for any sign of a green-furred Zoroark.

Whoooooosssh!

A strange wind sounded. White snapped, alert. She gasped as she saw a green and grey shape flashing around on top of the water far beneath her, a cloud of fast moving white things surrounding it.

"There's N!" Snivy shouted, waking up Tepig and Oshawott.

The Zoroark, N, dove beneath the water and swam towards the building.

"He's back!" White said, relieved.

"But what are those things? Swablu?" Snivy asked, straining her eyes to see.

Kate narrowed her eyes. Sure enough, the white things raced after him. They appeared to be some sort of tiny, flat, white Flying-types. N burst out of the water and made a leap up to the building, before beginning a rushed climb.

"WATCH OUT!" Tepig cried as the Pokémon pulled White away from the railing, as Zoroark and the birds flashed by.

Once they were gone, White ran back to the railing, stunned at the sight above her. N was leaping around on the building, in combat against the weird creatures that attacked him.

"Come on N! Fight them!" White shouted out to her friend.

On closer inspection, White could see that the Zoroark was covered in deep scratches and scrapes all over his body and a trickle of blood came from his mouth as well. N would lose this battle if he didn't get help and even then, it looked like his severe injuries would do him in.

"N!" White shouted out, waving her arms furiously. "This way, hurry!"

"You can do it!' Oshawott and Tepig shouted.

Snivy's eye twitched as she shouted, "Idiot! Get your ass down here!"

"Snivy!"

"Shut up, it's working."

Indeed, hearing White's and the Pokémon's' calls, N managed to leap down towards them. But he must have been in too much pain to judge the distance correctly. He crashed through the window, destroying the wooden frame. The birds whizzed after him, but White was read. She and the Pokémon got to the glass screens and closed one before working on the other.

A large mass of birds crashed into the screen, but a few managed to slip through the crack. White screamed and tore at the birds as they attacked her body in a frenzy, the Pokémon fighting as well. It was only when one of them floated to the ground did White realize what they really were.

"They're…Just paper?" she asked in surprise.

More of the flat pieces of paper, cut to look like birds or angles floated to the ground. The ones White hadn't destroyed quickly rose up and flew away, disappearing across the ocean. N had only been attacked by paper? Well, paper with an enchantment on it, no doubt. White froze.

"N!" she shouted as she dashed into the room where N had crash landed.

He was staggering to his feet. The floor was covered in blood, as were the walls, and blankets lay ripped and ruined, as N's wounds leaked fresh blood. His mouth hung open to reveal that blood was also foaming out. His eyes were a fierce white, like those of the black creatures that had taken away Bianca and Cheren.

"N?" White asked as she hurried towards him. "Careful! You're bleeding!"

The Zoroark growled fiercely at her.

"White…I don't think he's listening," Snivy whispered. White ignored her as she came closer to the injured Zoroark, who growled again.

"You don't have to worry! Those paper birds are gone! It's going to be okay," White coaxed. She held out a hand, meaning to give a comforting pet to the poor Pokémon. "Here now, let me look at your wounds…"

HOOOOOWWWLLL!

N suddenly leaped past White, through the window, and began to climb up the side of the building. White ran to the railing. N had smacked his head into a wall, much to Snivy's amusement, but he managed to climb and leap up to the top floor through a window.

"N!" White shouted as he disappeared from view. She looked to her blood covered right hand. "He flew up to Yubaba's floor!" White looked at the Pokémon, fear ad desperation in her eyes. "I've got to go after him before he bleeds to death."

Snivy muttered something while Tepig and Oshawott nodded. Together, the four raced off to the elevator, unaware that something was following them. One of the paper birds, missing its left wing, suddenly floated after White before landing on her back.

White didn't notice it as she shouted, "N! Hang on! I'm coming!" as she ran down the halls.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

"Welcome the rich! He's hard for you to miss! His butt keeps getting bigger so there's more for you to kiss!"

A ceremony of some sorts was being help up at one of the finest floors in the bath house. Both sides of a long hallway were lined up with numerous servants, as many that could fit in the place, plates of food and empty boxes besides them. The foreman led the singing, dancing about in a good mood.

"Beg for tips, now is the time!" he chanted as the spirit, now much bigger after consuming large quantities of food, walked up the stairs and into the hallway.

Everyone there was cheering to him, offering food for more gold, as they had done back in the baths. White didn't know this as she fought through the crowd, Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig darting beneath feet and tails. Their destination was right in front of them, the elevator that led to the very top. But when White got there, she crashed into one of the Politoeds.

"Hey! Lea, what do you think you're doing?" he snapped angrily at her, mad that she had run into him.

"Sorry! I need to go up!" White shouted to make herself heard. The strange spirit stiffened and turned towards her, recognizing her voice.

"Oh no you're not!" the Politoed said, grabbing her right hand. "Yubaba would have my head if she cau…What the…? BLOOD! ACK!"

He pushed White away in fright. She stumbled backwards before she twirled around, trying to find another way to reach the top, but she almost crashed into the foreman instead.

"Hey! Lea, get out of the way! We have a guest!" the foreman said angrily.

White looked around him and spotted the spirit from before, the one she had let into the bath house. White could have sworn that he was much smaller before, though. He stared at her, knowing who it was.

She quickly bowed to him, her Ponyta tail flying forward. "Thank you for helping me yesterday," she said to him.

"No talking to…Hey!" The foreman shouted as the spirit grabbed him by the throat and tossed him into the crowd.

The strange spirit bent down to White, its painted face staring at hers. His hands came in front of her, a massive pile of gold forming upwards, until it nearly spilt from his hands. The crowd gasped, it was the most gold they had seen the spirit offer. He held his hands out to White, a smile painted on its face.

"Ah. Ah. Ah." He said, offering the gold to her.

White's eyes widened at the large amount, Snivy and the other gaping in shock. It was more money than White had ever seen, but she really had no use for that much gold. She had other things on her mind at the moment anyways. And if she didn't hurry…

White shook her head. The spirit looked confused. Again, he tried to get White to accept his gift.

"Do it Lea!" one girl whispered.

"That's more gold than what Yubaba makes in a month!" another cried out to White.

Again, White shook her head as she looked into the spirit's face. "No thank you, I don't want or need any." She ducked down again, saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm in a really big hurry. Excuse me."

With that, White ducked into the crowd, the spirit shaking and scattering the gold on the ground. The crowd went nuts, scrambling to get some, and a few fighting one another for it. White managed to slip away throughout the madness, Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig at her heels.

The spirit watched her disappear among the jostling bodies, standing still in shock and disappointment. It sulked silently as the foreman managed to move the other employees out of the way.

"Please excuse Lea, sir. She's only a human," he apologized with a polite smile.

"Hmpth," the spirit said angrily as he lowered himself to stare into the foreman's eyes. Under the negative influences of Lombre, he assumed that the foreman was mocking him. "Wipe that smile off your face."

"Wha?" he asked, confused.

"You're still smiling!" he cried as he grabbed the foreman and a Sunflora woman.

He swallowed them both at the same time, his size increasing and his shape becoming more grotesque. This caused the employees to scream and scatter, leaving behind the food that they had brought in offer for gold. They fled from the hall, away from the strange masked spirit now referred to as a monster.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

**So yeah, poor Lombre got greedy and got swallowed. But the spirit is being influenced by negative emotions too, making things even worse. And N's hurt now too! What's White going to do?**


	11. Saving N and Meet the Family

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Hello again! As you can guess, the new chapter is up! Lin, mind taking over the disclaimer again?**

**Lin: What? I already did it.**

**White did it again too.**

**Lin: Fine…WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon or Spirited Away, just this Fanfiction and all the previous she has written and will continue to write.**

**See? That wasn't so hard. Anyways…Let's move onto the summary!**

**Summary: White woke up from a bad dream and found the bedroom empty. Downstairs, everyone was busy and Lin explained that a new guest had shown up, giving out gold freely. White decides to find N and waits for him to show up. He appears battling paper birds and White manages to help him before he takes off to Yubaba's floor. White chases after him, unaware of a stowaway. She runs into the black mask spirit again, who offers her a pile of gold. She runs off, intent on helping N, and the spirit swallows the foreman and a woman, leaving the rest of the staff in a panic. Let's see how our heroine fairs then, shall we?**

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White shoved a window open in another employee room. She climbed over the windowsill with the Pokémon, nearly tumbling off, but managed to keep her balance. She led the climb up to the top, holding onto the side of the building. Her hands were caked with blood and soot as she searched for a way to reach N.

Good news? There was a ladder. Better news? It led all the way to the top floor where N had flown in. Bad news? The only way to reach the ladder was to climb across a rusty, skinny, extremely worn pipe. White looked at it carefully. It didn't look very stable.

White looked at her hand again, the blood of N starting to dry. White blinked and clenched her hand. She began to tie her pant legs up with her white ribbon as her tail appeared as well as her ears. She'd need the skills of a Mienshao to reach N. Snivy gathered herself at White' neck while Tepig and Oshawott climbed into her bag again.

White took a deep breath before running across the pipe, picking up speed. As predicted, the pipe was unstable and with each footstep, the bolts that held it together came loose. White shrieked as she sped up and leapt for the ladder as the pipe broke loose from the wall.

White was clinging to the ladder, her tail quivering like mad. She watched the pipe creak and moan before it crashed down. She and the Pokémon sighed in relief as White began to climb. All she could think about was N. Was he dead already? How had he gotten so injured? Would Yubaba get mad at him if he just showed up in her house, especially in that condition?

About ¾'s of the way to the top, White had to stop to catch her breath. Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott were at a bad angle, so they didn't see the paper bird from White's back rise and tap her head. White turned, confused before she saw something to worry about. The Honchkrow was flying for the top of the tower.

"It's Yubaba," White said and began to climb again, in a frenzy.

By the time Yubaba had reached her porch, White and the Pokémon were on the edge of a windowsill. White tried to open it, but it was locked. She banged a fist on it for a moment, before turning around and starting to smack her back on it.

The paper bird slipped off her shoulder and darted through the crack. It unlocked the window as White smacked into the window again, causing her to fall in. White grimaced and rubbed her head, the Pokémon slightly dizzy and the paper bird settled back down on its hiding spot on White's shoulder. White stood up to find herself in an elegant bathroom.

White scrambled out of the bathroom, the Pokémon darting after her. After many twists and turns through the lavishly decorated halls, White ran into a room quite unlike any of the others she had passed through.

It was a child's room, with plush carpets and walls painted with murals of small towns and the countryside. The rounded ceiling was painted with clouds and a sun that gave off artificial light. Massive pillows and tons of toys were scattered about the entire floor with a couch and bookcase across from a gigantic bed. White looked around, surprised at it all. This was Yubaba's son's room, but where was he?

"We'll we're in big trouble now…"

Yubaba's voice filtered in from another room. White rushed to the curtains while Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott followed. White gently moved the curtains slightly, to see an angry Yubaba talking on a phone to someone.

"What a mess. I found out who our customer is. He's a No-Face," Yubaba said.

_No face? _White thought, thinking of the spirit that kept offering her gifts. That seemed right with his black form and mask.

"…Fine, fine. I'll be down in a minute," Yubaba said with a side. "Don't let him eat anyone else 'till I get down there."

The witch hung up her phone and turned to her left. She winced and gave a groan.

"Ew…N's bleeding all over the carpet," repulsion in Yubaba's voice. "Get him out of here. He'll be dead soon anyways."

White pressed a hand to her mouth.

_No…No! N! Please don't die! I'm be there! _White thought furiously.

_Die die die! _Snivy thought happily. _Then White won't mate with you!_

Yubaba turned and began to walk towards the baby's room. White gasped softly and ducked back in, searching for a place to hide. She looked around hurriedly before seeing a huge pillow pillows. She dove in with the Pokémon and burrowed deep just before Yubaba entered.

Yubaba turned to the pillows. White gulped, her ears pressed against her skull.

_Crap, crap, crap!_

Yubaba began to toss pillows aside. Was she searching for White?

Apparently not as a baby's cry could be heard. Yubaba's son must have been in the pillows too, and she had found him.

"Ah sweetie! Hiding under the pillows again?" Yubaba cooed.

Snivy rolled her eyes at this while White gave an inaudible sigh of relief. The baby started to get fussy.

"Oh! I woke you up! And you were sound asleep. Here have a kiss from Mommy," Yubaba cooed.

She gave him a big kiss, leading White and Snivy to gag silently with Tepig and Oshawott making grossed out faces. Yubaba put the pillows she had removed back on and said, "Now go back to sleep, dear."

White peeked through a crack in the pillows to watch Yubaba pick up some spilled toys and pillows before she tossed them onto the couch. She flickered a light switch and the sun in the ceiling rotated to let a moon appear in its place, creating an artificial night for the baby. Yubaba then left the room, closing the curtains behind her.

White waited for a few moments, for the coast to be clear, and she raised her pillow. Snivy, Oshawott and Tepig crowed around her as White started to remove herself from the pile. Then something gripped her left arm tightly. With a yelp and surprised gasps from the Pokémon, White was dragged back under the pillows and tugged to the very center. The Pokémon followed after her.

"Ow that hurts! Please let go!" White said.

She opened her eyes and blinked in surprise. She was face to face with Yubaba's baby. A red apron that he wore told White his name was "Boh", but what really shocked her was the sheer size of him. He was the largest baby White had ever seen, almost seven feet tall and he was really plump.

"Oh…You're a big baby," White said. "Er…Would you please let me go? I'm in a really big hurry and I can't waste a moment."

The baby regarded her for a moment before he said, "You came into make me sick, didn't you? You're a germ from the outside!"

"What? I'm not a germ," White told him. "I'm human! Please let me go!"

"You can't go outside. You'll get sick and die," Boh told her.

"No I won't," White said shaking her head. She might have had some close calls, but she hadn't died yet.

"Yes you will," Boh said. "That's why I've never left this room. And you shouldn't either. Stay and play with me."

"Staying this room's going to make you sick," White said angrily to him. Then her expression softened. "Please, listen to me. Someone very important to me is in terrible danger. He's really hurt and I need to help him before it's too late. So please let me go," White begged. She could have sung him to sleep, but time was running out for N and if she didn't hurry…

"NO," Boh said with a glare. "You go out there and I'll cry. And when I cry, Momma will come in here and Momma will kill you. Now play with me before I break your arm off," he said, twisting White's left arm painfully.

"Stop! That hurts," White cried. "I'll play with you later, I promise. But right now, I have to go."

"NO! NOW!" Boh demanded.

White couldn't break from his iron grip. What could she do? She looked at her right hand, at all the blood, soot and grime. She'd hate to do this, but if it was the only way to go help N... She thrust her hand into Boh's face, where he let out a gasp of surprise.

"Look! I've got germs!" White cried.

For a moment nothing happened. Then Boh let out a wail and began to throw a tantrum, releasing White's arm. She fought out of the fort and leaped out, her tail flying out behind her. She and the Pokémon scrambled outside, throwing aside the curtains that led to Yubaba's office.

White gasped as she saw the Mankey heads all crowded around an unconscious N, blood dripping from his wounds. A hole was in front of the fire place and the three of them were trying to push N down it.

White let out a furious scream as she ran over, shoving the Mankeys out of the way. "N! Can you hear me? It's White. Please wake up!" she begged. The Mankeys grunted angrily at White and moved forward, when she snapped her head towards them. "SHUT UP! Leave him alone! What are you doing to him?"

SCKREEEEE!

The Murkrow with the woman's head zoomed at White's head, causing her to screech and cover her head. Seeing their chance, the Mankey heads started to shove N again. It looked like he was going down, when White wrapped herself around his neck and pulled. The Murkrow tried to dive bomb her again, but a vine from Snivy slowed it down. Tepig and Oshawott had started to deal with the Mankey heads while White began to drag the large Zoroark away from the hole.

The curtains in the back broke off, stopping them all from moving. White saw Boh staggering into the room and coming to glare at her defiantly.

"I'm not afraid of germs," he told White. "I'll cry if you don't play with me."

"Please don't cry!" White begged, still holding onto N's green mane as the Mankeys and the Murkrow gulped. They didn't like it when Boh went into one of his rages.

"Right now! Before I start crying," he told her, his face scrunching up and tears welling up in his eyes.

White tried to get him to stop, only making it worse.

"What a spoiled brat!" Yubaba's voice remarked.

White gasped and looked around as the paper bird flew from her shoulder and hovered in front of Boh's face. He stopped his crying and looked at in surprise.

"You're a bit of a porker, aren't you?" the paper bird seemed to say in Yubaba's voice.

It flew over to the side and touched the ground. An image of Yubaba seemed to rise up out of the floor. The only differences would be her left arm was missing and that she was transparent. White noticed that the paper bird was also missing its left wing.

"Ah," Yubaba said. "Still see-through," she noted.

"Momma?" Boh asked confused.

"You pea brain, can't you tell me from your own mother?" The look-a-like said. She waved her hand at Boh.

The large baby suddenly shrunk down to the ground, his ears growing and his color changing until he was a tiny, pudgy Patrat. He looked at himself, utterly confused.

White gasped when the woman chuckled.

"Let's see what else can I change?"

The Murkrow flapped away while the Mankeys tried to bounce away. The woman waved her hand again and the Murkrow shrunk down into a pitiful black Pidgey that landed next to Boh. The Mankeys were stacked onto each other and they blended together to become a look-a-like to Boh.

White gasped again and the woman turned to her. White held N's closer.

"Now this is our little secret," the woman said with a smile. "If you so much as breathe a word I'll rip off your mouth."

White growled before she asked, "Who are you?"

"The name's Zeniba, I'm Yubaba's twin sister. I'd like to thank you for leading me to this sneaky Zoroark's hiding place," she said with a nasty grin to N. "Now step aside, little girl."

"What do you want with him?" White asked, leaning closer to N's form, as though to shield him. Snivy growled at Zeniba as she, Tepig, and Oshawott crowded around White, protecting her.

"He stole something from me. My monogramed gold seal. It has very powerful magic and I want it back."

"No! N wouldn't steal, he's a good person," White argued.

"Hah! Do you know _why _he became my sister's apprentice?" Zeniba asked White with a gentle poke to her chest. "To steal her magic secrets. And now he's stole mine. He's a no-good, greedy little thief. Now stand aside."

"No!" White shouted, her ears standing up in rage. Fire suddenly coursed over her entire body, red flames licking at the air. "If you try and touch him, I'll burn you!"

Zeniba was surprised to find the girl on fire but she was coming over her surprise. There was no telling what would happen when suddenly…

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Uh?" White asked as her flames died down as she, Zeniba, and the Pokémon turned to look at the disturbance. The Mankey heads, as Boh, were trying to smash the real Boh as he to White with the Pidgey on his shoulder.

"You idiots," Zeniba said, moving towards the Boh illusion while the real Boh climbed on White's shoulder. "I don't want my sister to hear."

N opened his eyes gently and saw White holding on to him. His eyes flashed to Zeniba and he let out a howl. With surprising speed, his back leg flashed out and cut the paper bird in half.

"Oh my, a paper cut," Zeniba said as her illusion self was sliced in half before vanishing.

N, exhausted by the small feat he had performed, leaned backwards. Backwards happened to be over the hole and White tried to pull him back, but it was no use.

"N! We're falling!" White cried as she tumbled in after him, Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott holding onto N's tail and Boh and the Pidgey on White's shoulder still.

White's scream echoed through the tunnel as they plummeted to the depth of the bathhouse.

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**Poor White! Things aren't going so well for her huh? Stay tuned to see what happens to White, N, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, and Boh as they fall down the chute.**

**Okay, you all know the deal by now I hope. So read and review for the heart, soul, and spirit!**


	12. Love Heals All Wounds

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Hey there folks, yet another up! It makes me sad that this things going by so quickly…Anyways, Boh's here to say the disclaimer this time. Go ahead.**

**Boh: Miss WhiteOwl doesn't own Pokémon or Spirited Away and keep reading to see if I go back to normal. She also doesn't own the song "Kiss it all Better." That belongs to "He is We".**

**Summary: White found N and Yubaba's sister, Zeniba, revealed N had stolen from her, after turning Boh into a Patrat and replacing him so Yubaba wouldn't notice. After slicing the paper bird and thus the illusion of Zeniba, N fell backwards, dragging White, Boh, and the Pokémon with him. So let's find out what happens, 'kay?"**

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White clung tightly to N's thick fur as they fell down the shaft leading to who knows where. Tepig and Oshawott were holding on tight to N's tail, Oshawott holding Snivy's to keep her from falling past them. The little Pidgey started to fly away with Boh, but White caught them quickly, not wanting them to get hurt, and tucked them next to her shirt. Down, down, down they plummeted in the seemingly endless shaft. White squirmed upwards and tried to wake N, hoping he could help them all.

"N? Please wake up," White begged as she grasped his ears gently.

Suddenly, an image appeared to White. She was in water, as her hair flowed about in the crystal blue liquid, and she held on the ears of a dark creature that guided her forward.

The flashback was over as quickly as it had started and with a roar N was awake, and just in time too. A large wind swept underneath them all, saving them from crashing into the ground and the black, white-eyed spirits that hovered above the ground. N howled and leaped upwards, riding the winds before landing in a tight and narrow passage, just large enough for him to race through, some chunks of his fur ripping out.

He could feel White on his back and the extra weight of the Pokémon as he rushed ahead. White hung onto N's mane as the headed for a distant speck of light. As the got closer and closer, White saw there was a fan there and was about to warn N when he crashed through it before they all collapsed into a room.

"WAAAHHH!" White shouted as she was pitched onto Kamaji, who quickly helped her to her feet. The trio of Pokémon had landed on the soot sprites and were also pulled to their feet fast while Boh was settled gently to the ground, thanks to the Pidgey.

"Lea! What are you doing! How'd you get here!" Kamaji asked in shock as the Zoroark that was N squirmed towards the drawers, coughing up blood and thrashing about briefly.

White fought off Kamaji's restraining hands and rushed to N's side, ignoring his warnings to back away.

"N!" White cried. "Are you okay? Please stay calm!"

All she got in answer was a hiss. N gave a half-hearted swipe at her, which White ducked easily. Blood dribbled from his mouth at a rapid pace.

"This looks serious," Kamaji said, lowering himself to stand next to White. "It seems that N is bleeding from the inside."

"From the inside?" White questioned, her thoughts flying to the gift the Dragonair had given her only last night.

"Yes…Maybe he swallowed something?" Kamaji suggested.

White dug into her apron as N fainted again, collapsing on the wooden floor. She pulled out the green sphere of medicine and gazed at it. White had a theory that the medicine caused regurgitation, which could help in getting whatever was tuck in N's mouth out. She only hoped she wasn't too late.

"N! I got this gift from the Dragonair spirit!" White shouted. "Eat it! I think it'll help!"

"Medicine from a Dragonair spirit?" Kamaji asked, amazed. Someone from long ago had received the very same gift, many years ago, the one he loved that this girl so greatly resembled. He could only hope it would have the same effect that it had had when Moesashi had used it.

White forced open N's lips, to reveal a set of sharp teeth that were pressed tightly together. White tried to force the medicine through his teeth, but N wouldn't budge. Oshawott and Tepig tried to help her open his jaws while Snivy worked on restraining N's front legs. White grimaced before putting the medicine into her own mouth and biting it in half.

"See?" White asked as she spat it out, lifting it to show N. "It's safe!"

She put half of the medicine in her pocket to save for later. White grimaced as her arms became covered in cream fur as she began to pry open N's jaw, bit by bit, using the strength of a Mienshao. It was slow going though, as N was strong even as he was weakened and approaching death's door.

"That's it!" White shouted as his mouth inched open. "Open your mouth! Atta boy!"

The gape was wide enough now, as White used on hand to hold open the jaw, sticking her other hand deep inside N's mouth, past the rows of curved teeth. White dropped the medicine at the back of N's throat.

"Got it!" White shouted as she withdrew her hand.

"HOOOOOOWWWWLLLLL!"

White held N's jaws closed as he thrashed about, disliking the terrible taste the medicine had brought. But it was for his own good. White held on through it all, Snivy wrapping her vines around his mouth too, as N's tail slammed about on the walls and splattering blood everywhere, terrifying the soot sprites. Even Kamaji stood back.

N's throat grew larger as a peculiar lump forced its way forward to his mouth. White's grip was thrown off as N spat something out of his mouth with a powerful force. An orb of black gunk shot out, bouncing a bit before landing several feet away.

"Lea! Look!" Kamaji shouted, pointing to the orb.

The ooze began to melt away, staining the floor. A puddle formed before it slowly faded away as a solid gold block with a Croagunk on the top lay in the middle. On top of it was a black slug with large eyes, only about two or three inches long. It appeared dazed for a second, before coming horrified as it looked around. It leapt off the seal and crawled around like crazy.

"The gold seal!" White stated.

"Lea! Get that black slug!" Kamaji shouted, grabbing the three Pokémon and pulling them upwards, to protect them. "Get it, get it, GET IT!"

White scrambled out and snatched up the gold seal before she started to chase after the slug. She might have been moving at the speed of a Mienshao, but the little bugger was fast. It tried to enter the soot sprites holes, before they blocked it up, trying to chase it back to White. White hopped around, trying to squash it with her foot. After several misses and close calls…

SQUISH!

"Eep!" White shouted; her loose hair flying upwards as a strange chill past through her whole body and goose bumps rose on her arms.

"You killed it!" Kamaji shouted. "Those things are bad luck! Hurry! We have only moments before it rubs off on you! Put your thumb and fore fingers together!"

White hopped towards Kamaji, joining her fingers to make a circle. Kamaji's hand went straight through them, as though he was using karate.

"Evil be gone!" he decreed and the peculiar feelings left White quickly. She caught her breath before she started to speak.

"Kamaji, N stole this seal from Yubaba's sister," White said, showing the old man the golden seal.

"Zeniba's solid gold monogramed seal!" Kamaji said in wonder. "That's some pretty powerful magic right there."

Shing….

White turned to N, realizing that only his powers of the wind could create that sort of sound. His body was changing! White ran to his side as his shape shortened and faded. Soon, he was back in his normal form, scrapes and scratches on his pale face and his eyes shut. But he was still alive, and that was all that mattered to White.

"Zeniba put a curse on the seal, she said that anyone who stole it would die," White whispered as she pushed a lock of green hair from N's sweaty face. Snivy's face dropped. White…It was so obvious the feelings she felt for this boy…

"That's some strong magic, it's made N gravely ill," Kamaji said, placing a hand on White's. "We should make him more comfortable."

White nodded. A short while later, White held up N in her lap as Kamaji poured a herbal tea down his throat, before White settled him onto a blanket and drew a second over him. White tenderly used a clean cloth to wipe away some blood that flowed from a gash on N's cheeks. Tepig settled down by N's side, as Snivy and Oshawott dipped the cloth White had just used into a bucket, before passing it back to her.

Boh and the Pidgey were examining the black footprint White had created when she had squashed the slug with the soot sprites. Boh then stepped deliberately on the footprint curious. A shiver went through his entire body. He made a quick circle with his paws and held it to a soot sprite. It brought a black appendage down on top of it. Boh then raised his arms up as the soot sprites chittered, all better again. So far, he was having an exciting time outside of Yubaba's penthouse. He wouldn't really mind being a Pokémon for a while longer if he was going to explore some more, but he did miss his Momma.

"Poor N," Kamaji said with a sigh, breaking the silence that surrounded them. "He's had it rough ever since he came here."

"He isn't from the spirit world?" White asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah, he just showed up out of the blue, out from nowhere like you and your friends. He became Yubaba's apprentice to learn magic. I tried to convince him otherwise. "It's too dangerous," I told him. "Just go home." But N told me that, for some reason, he didn't have a home to return to. Yubaba took away his name to let him join as her apprentice. She sent him out on missions for herself. After a while, N's face got paler and his eyes grew steely. Never was the same again."

Poor N. He had it rough yet he took the time to help White. He alone had helped her, saving her from the dark void that surrounded her on either side. He had been the one to comfort her, to help her…To be there for her. Her heart gave a strange shudder, her face flooding. She clasped at her shirt. Kamaji noticed and smiled.

"At least…Until you showed up."

"Huh?" White, Snivy, and Oshawott asked. Tepig had fallen asleep worn out from the trials of the last two hours.

"Yup. N pops in here a lot to get away from Yubaba for a while. He visited me the night you showed up. He had…The happiest face I had seen on him in a long time. He was smiling, without a care in the world, saying he met someone who had reminded him of his lost past, even if he couldn't remember all of it," Kamaji said with a smile at White.

White blushed and looked at the form of the sleeping boy. Did she really mean something to him as a friend? Snivy growled, but much softer now than before. How was she going to stop them now that White was showing feelings?

"Kamaji?" White asked. "What if I take the gold seal back to Zeniba? I could apologize for N while he recovers. Could you please tell me where Zeniba lives?"

Kamaji stared at her with disbelief. "You'd go to _Zeniba's_? It might help, but she's a dangerous witch…"

"I know that," White said with a quick look to Boh. "Please though? N's helped me out a lot before! Now's it my turn to help him out."

Kamaji mulled it over for a moment, looking into White's determined face. There was no way he'd be able to convince her out of it so he sighed.

"…I know how you can get there," he mumbled. "But you'd have to get back on your own."

"I'll do anything," White assured him.

Kamaji nodded, the response was something he had expected from her. "Wait here then," he told her, heading to an antique dresser. He opened random drawers, tossing out items in a search.

"Everyone, I need my shoes and clothes please," White said, addressing the soot sprites as she removed her apron. "…I guess Bianca and Cheren will have to wait…" she said sadly as the soot sprites hurried off. Boh pointed to White and the Pidgey nodded. They both had decided they were going to travel with White for the time being. Who knows? It might be another adventure.

The little black sprites ducked into their holes to retrieve White's stuff while Boh and the Pidgey flew up to White as she leaned over N again.

Now that she thought about it, N was rather handsome to her and she wished he'd open those grey-blue eyes for her. They reminded her of storm clouds and water that flowed in a might river. But it wasn't his looks that made White's heart thump.

It was N himself. His kindness, his bravery, his being there for her. Even when he lost himself, N had managed to get White to safety. Everything he had done for her had been done from the bottom of his heart.

White leaned over closer and pressed her cheek to N's and sang for him a piece of a soothing song, something her grandmother had sung to her whenever she had been sick or scared.

"_And she cried_

_Kiss it all better_

_I'm not ready to go_

_It's not your fault love_

_You didn't know_

_You didn't know_

…

_Now he sits behind prison bars_

_Twenty-five to life _

_And she's not in his arms_

_He couldn't bring her back_

_With a bullet to the heart_

_In the back of a man_

_Who tore his world apart_

_He holds onto a memory_

_All it is, is a memory_

_Hey, hey_

…

_And he cries_

_Stay with me _

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me_

_Stay with me_

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me_

_Stay with me _

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me_

_Stay with me _

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me_

…

_Kiss it all better_

_I'm not ready to go_

_It's not your fault love_

_You didn't know_

_You didn't know_

…

_Stay with me _

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me_

_Stay with me _

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me_

_Stay with me _

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me_

_Stay with me _

_Until I fall asleep_

_Stay with me."_

White then rose back up, tears in her eyes as she realized what was going on with her.

She was in love with N.

"Lea! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Through the doors came Lin. The Sneasle girl stared in shock at all the blood that covered the drawers and floor.

"Blood…What the hell happened?" Lin asked. "And who are those guys?" she questioned looking at Boh and the Pidgey, who were perched on White's shoulder, Snivy curled around her neck and Oshawott in her bag. The soot sprites poured out from the holes, pulling out White's shoes and her black pants, top, and white jacket.

"Oh they're my new friends. I picked them up a while ago," White casually replied. She had not forgotten Zeniba's curse on herself. If she mentioned what had happened at the top concerning Boh, her mouth would be ripped off.

Lin's face turned serious after she had hugged White. "Everyone's looking for you. Yubaba is _furious_. The guy with all the gold turned out to be a monster called No-Face. Even worse, he's telling anyone who asks that _you _let him in the bathhouse!"

White sighed. Then it was the same spirit who had offered her the bath tokens after all. The same she had left the door open…

"I did let him in," White admitted.

"WHAT!?" Lin shouted. "Are you serious!"

"Yeah, I thought he was a customer who got locked out," White exclaimed.

"That thing's a monster! He's destroyed a few parts of the bathhouse and he's eaten three people!" Lin snapped.

"Found it!" Kamaji called, before he hurried over to White.

"Hey old man, we're talking here," Lin said.

Kamaji ignored her and placed something into White's hands. It was a five folded over ticket slips, written in the language of the spirits.

"You can use these," Kamaji explained.

"You've got train tickets? Where'd you get them?" Lin asked in shock.

"I've saved onto them for forty years, in case of a special occasion,  
Kamaji said. He looked sad. "They were for me and…Moesashi. We were going to travel together when she had to leave…She didn't want to, but we didn't have a choice…"

"What happened to her?" White asked.

Kamaji stared off. "She left for the human world."

White stared at the tickets. Two for each to ride somewhere and return and an extra for…It struck White right away.

"Moesashi was having a baby, wasn't she?"

Lin gasped, but Kamaji nodded. "We were so thrilled until we realized…The baby was going to be born human and…A human born into the spirit world is always born dead. I told her to go, so that our child could live and grow. We parted forty years ago, and I have not seen Moesashi since." Kamaji sighed and shook his head. "But…I believe we must move onto the present matter. Now listen closely Lea, the train used to run in both directions. But these days, it's a one way ride. So you better get this right. The stop you want is called Swamp Bottom."

"Swamp Bottom," White repeated.

"That's where Zeniba lives. It's the sixth stop," Kamaji explained. "Now, are you still certain you want to go?"

White nodded, smiling. "Yep, I'll be fine. I can walk back along the tracks."

"And what about No-Face?" Lin asked.

"I'll take care of that in a little bit," White said, going back to N's side.

He seemed more relaxed than earlier, breathing better. White knelt down to him and whispered softly, "I'll be right back N. I'll make things right, you'll see. I…I…I love you," she whispered before kissing him quick on his cheek, her heart beating rapidly.

"Wha…What's going on?" Lin asked, surprised to have seen Lea kiss N.

"That's something you don't understand or recognize," Kamaji said as White picked up her clothes from the soot sprites and turned to the door, determination in her eyes. "Love."

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**Love confession from White to an unconscious N! And off White goes to save the bathhouse and N! What about Moesashi? She left all that time ago to save the baby she carried. What happened to her? Find out soon enough! VERY soon at the rate I'm writing these chapter at.  
**


	13. The Monster

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**The end is coming…To this Fanfiction. I'll be sad to see it go, it's been fun writing this thing. I just hope that whoever reads this will have and still does enjoy it. Okay, Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott are doing the disclaimer this time around, go ahead.**

**Snivy: Right! So anyway, WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon…**

**Oshawott: Or Spirited Away, so no suing people!**

**Tepig: Yeah, and she'd like to give a shout out to the readers who have been reading this and all the Fanfics she's working on.**

**Enjoy~**

**Summary: White was falling down the shaft with N and the Pokémon. She grabbed onto N, only to experience a flashback of water. N woke up and managed to get them to Kamaji before he passed out again. White used half of the medicine from the Dragonair spirit to get N to cough up the golden seal and a slug, presumably the curse Zeniba had placed on it. White squashed it and Kamaji released the bad luck from her. White then put the now human N in some blankets and she and Kamaji had a talk. White learned about N's happiness upon meeting her and she offers to return the seal to Zeniba. White sings to N for a bit, realizing how she feels for N, before Lin shows up. She then told White that the No-Face spirit was destroying parts of the bathhouse and ****was eating people. Kamaji gave White five train tickets and admitted that ****Moesashi left the spirit world so that their baby could live. White, armed with information on how to reach Zeniba's, then kissed N before heading of to face No-Face.**

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Everything in the bathhouse was in pandemonium as fear flashed through the employees. The cheerful mood from earlier was gone as the all worried who would next be eaten. A large number of employees waited in the hallway, carrying platters of food and waiting for instructions. A bunch of Pokémon girls ran from around a corner, tears dripping down their pale faces.

"He just keeps getting bigger!" a Meowth girl wailed in horror as she ran fast.

"I'm scared!" cried an Espeon girl, her purple hair poofed up in fear.

"I don't want to be eaten…" whispered a Vulpix.

"Hey. It's _her_," said an Amphorous bitterly as she caught sight of someone.

Everyone turned and became silent as White walked down the halls, Snivy and Oshawott following besides her with Boh and the Pidgey on her shoulders. White was still plastered with N's blood, causing a few employees to whimper slightly. They either gazed at her in anticipation or glared at her, No-Face's words about her letting him in ringing through their heads. It was mostly anticipation, as several still held her in high regard over what had happened yesterday. White ignored them as she walked forward. She had a whole lot of things to deal with at the moment; handle No-Face was only at the top of her To-Do list, followed closely by return gold seal to Zeniba, find cure for Boh and the Pidgey, and get Bianca and Cheren out of the spirit world. The sooner she dealt with No-Face, the better.

A Politoed hurried over to her, wearing a sash similar to the one the foreman wore. "Lea! Thank goodness! Yubaba can't hold him off much longer!"

CRASH! SMASH!

White heard a small, five second earthquake after the bangs and crashes coming from around the corner, behind a set of screen doors.

"No need to get upset!" Yubaba's voice said from inside the room. "I'm sure Lea will be here any minute! They'll find her somewhere…Just be patient and…"

"Where is Lea?!" A loud voice demanded. "I want Lea!"

The temporary foreman gulped slightly and looked at White. He noticed how the girl was keeping calm, despite it all. He had to respect that. He led her quickly to the door before he gave a quick knock on the door and whispered, "Yubaba! Lea's here!"

Yubaba threw open the doors, her back to them as she smiled a sickly sweet smile to the inside of the room. "Just another moment! Lea will be with you shortly!"

The doors slammed shut and Yubaba turned to White in a rage. White sighed in her mind. When she realized what had happened to Boh…

"He's destroying everything!" Yubaba hissed to White. "It's going to cost a fortune to repair the damages! So suck up to him and get every last speck of gold you…Huh?"

Yubaba's attention was on Boh now, as the Pidgey held the tiny Patrat in its talons. Boh chittered to his mother, trying to get her attention. He couldn't wait to tell her all that he had experience in the short while out of his room.

"Ew…What are those things doing here?" Yubaba demanded, repulsed by the Patrat and Pidgey, one of who was her own son. Snivy smirked slightly, despite the situation. _Highly ironic_, she thought.

White noticed Boh's miserable, crushed expression. "You don't recognize him?" she asked as Boh landed on White's shoulder.

"Don't be stupid," Yubaba huffed, pushing White towards the door. "Now get in there!"

She opened the doors and shoved White in before calling out, "Here's Lea~" She then slid the doors closed. White had landed on her knees and she was looking straight at the monster.

"Will Lea be okay in there?" the temporary foreman asked Yubaba as she pressed her ear against the door.

"Would you like to take her place?" she asked to him. He gulped and stayed silent, his thoughts on the young girl that was facing a monster all by herself.

White was sitting on her knees in the large room, once one of the best rooms, but now, it was completely trashed. Broken bowls of fine china were scattered about and food was splattered on the walls and the floor. Ironically, the walls and the sliding doors were painted in a monster and demon design, fitting No-Face quite well in this situation. He was twice as large as the last time White had seen him, his frog-like limbs now resembled four spider-shaped limbs. A large mouth was a short distance under his mask, which White realized was the true mouth of this face-less creature.

No-Face gave a sort of smile to White, holding a bowl of food towards her. "Here, try some. It's really good."

Those first three words were the exact same N had said to White when he offered her the rice balls. Those words reminded her of what she had to do and she remained silent, her face calm and neutral as the mask No-Face wore. Even if N wasn't here by her side, she could imagine his presence, his cool demeanor. White was going to be strong for N, like he had been brave for her.

"Want some gold?" No-Face asked White. "I'm not offering it to anyone else."

White didn't respond, Snivy and Oshawott giving him glared. Boh and the Pidgey hid behind White's shoulders, scared a bit, but they wouldn't leave White alone with him.

No-Face took a few steps towards her. She had refused the gold twice once before, he needed a hint on how to pay her back.

"Come closer Lea. Tell me. Tell me what you would like."

White looked at him sadly. "I would like to go home, something no one can give me. But…I also want to leave, I have something important to do."

No-Face shrunk back, shocked and hurt slightly. She…Wanted to leave? Go home?

"You should leave too. Back to where you come from," White said, trying to smile comfortingly.

No-Face groaned and shook his head sadly.

"Don't you have any friends? Family? A home to call your own?" White asked tenderly.

"No…No…" No-Face mumbled. "I'm lonely…Moeshasi left so long ago…She was my friend and you…You look just like her…"

He moved closer to White, who stood up and pressed against the door.

"What…What do you want?" White questioned nervously.

"I want…Lea…I WANT LEA!" No-Face demanded. His voice dripped with want and obsession, his blank eyes not able to reveal his desire to possess. He held out his hands again, gold forming upward.

"TAKE THE GOLD! DAMN IT ALL, JUST TAKE THE DAMN GOLD!" No-Face shouted at White.

"Are you going to eat me?" White asked, shoving Oshawott and Snivy behind her, to protect them.

"TAKE IT!" No-Face roared, his fingers beginning to wrap around White's head.

"Bianca, Cheren…N," White whispered. "I'm so sorry." She closed her eyes, a single tear leaking from her eye, and waited for the end.

CHOMP!

Boh, unable to take seeing the kind girl cry, had bit No-Face's finger. No-Face drew back, dragging the little boy/Pokémon still biting down on him. He tried to slap the rat off, but missed. Boh leaped back onto White's shoulder once more, this time glaring defiantly at No-Face, ready to bite again. White used this opportunity to dig about in her pocket and brought out the remainder of the medicine. No-Face was seriously ill, he'd need this.

"Please. If you want to eat me, eat this first," White said, holding the remainder to show No-Face. "I was saving this for my friends…But I think you need it more."

White tossed it into his open mouth. He swallowed and, within a moment, the effects began to take place. No-Face gagged and moaned, disliking the horrible taste the medicine had brought. A bit of black sludge leaked onto his tongue. White pressed against the wall, Snivy and Oshawott at her feet with Boh and the Pidgey on her shoulders, each preparing for whatever the monster was going to do.

No-Face spun around and puked violently. A vile, black substance that was even fouler than the Dragonair's pollution poured out from his mouth. The stuff was coughed out like a running faucet. White wanted to barf at well as Oshawott and Snivy gagged. Boh held his faces to his face, to stop his own bit of vomit.

"Lea?" No-Face asked through his pain as sludge dribbled down from his mouth.

White shrunk back, pressing her back to the sliding door. She gave a soft hand gesture to Snivy and Oshawott, who prepared themselves to run as White's other hand clasped the door handle.

"Lea, what did you do to me?" No-Face asked, before barfing again. Then he pounced.

"Now!" White cried as she stepped backwards, the door open now. Fire flashed from her wrists as Snivy and Oshawott shot out with her, slamming the door shut behind them, even if No-Face was too big to fit through it anyways.

The Politoeds that had crowded around the door, concerned for Lea's safety were shocked as she emerged, fire cloaking her arms. The Pokémon were stowed with her, Snivy around her neck, Oshawott in her bag while Boh was being carried by the black Pidgey.

"Run" she shouted to the workers as she rushed to the halls. "Get out of the way! He's after me!"

No sooner had she said it, No-Face burst out from the main doors, knocking over the Politoeds in his desperate hunt for White. White ran down the hall, her ears pressed to her skull, her tail and the flames like banners streaming out behind her, guiding No-Face forward. Employees were shocked as White ran by then grew terrified again as No-Face rushed after her, part of his body sticking to the floor in a gooey substance. The employees ducked to the sides to avoid being eaten, crushed, or burned.

"Enough! I don't care if this guy's rich!"

At the three way intersection, White managed to swerve left before hitting Yubaba.

"This nonsense has got to end!" Yubaba shouted as she created and launched a fireball at No-Face.

The attack nailed No-Face in the face, er mask, causing him no pain or reaction other than to heave very hard onto Yubaba. The witch was drenched in vomit and couldn't stop No-Face from charging by, shrinking a bit, but still massive.

"NO-FACE!" White cried to him from the level below. She waved her arm before she started to sprint again, hoping he'd chase her. And so he did. He jumped over the railing and climbed down the walls, leaving ooze all over them. As risky as the game White was playing was, she knew it was the right thing to do. She'd caused all this mess, and it was now up to her to clean it up.

White shot down a staircase, No-Face not too far behind. White ran down multiple stairs, making sharp turns to get to the next set, people watching her in surprise as she raced by, her arms aflame and a tail waving behind her. No-Face chased after her relentlessly, even as he lost body mass and even energy.

At the bottom floor, White ran into a wooden wall for a second before getting out of the way, her fire gone now in a wisp of smoke. No-Face crashed into the wall too. White ran off as he pulled himself together.

"I'm…Going to get…You Lea," he wheezed, having trouble breathing. He coughed furiously, releasing the Sunflora woman and the foreman, both fine as they lay shocked and relieved to be free. No-Face turned and wandered after White.

White slowed down, able to walk without fearing danger. She'd even stopped for him a couple of times to let No-Face rest for a moment.

He coughed up another small bit of bile saying, "Excuse me."

"It's okay," White told him, turning around to tell him before walking away again.

White made it to the exit and looked around. She had arranged to meet Lin there earlier.

"LEA! This way!" Lin called from a small boat, shaped like a giant bucket with a crank system for steering. White waved and ran down to her before hopping into the boat. Lin began to crank the boat.

No-Face exited the bathhouse, returning back to the form of who he once was.

"Hey!" White called to him, waving as she removed her pink shirt to reveal her normal close underneath that of the bathhouse's.

"What are you doing?" Lin asked. "Don't call him over!"

"I think being in the bathhouse made him crazy," White explained. "He needs a new place to stay I think."

"Where?" Lin asked sarcastically.

"I don't know," White admitted.

No-Face jumped down into the water, causing a small splash in it.

"Great. He's following us…" Lin grumbled.

"He won't hurt us," White said.

"But…" Lin said when Oshawott interrupted.

"You heard, White," Oshawott mumbled back. "If this girl can fall in love with someone you think is stone hearted she can…she can…" Oshawott didn't finish his sentence as he passed out, exhausted just like Tepig, still in Kamaji's boiler room.

"Idiot," Snivy grumbled to him, but her expression was soft.

No-Face floated upwards and began to cough again, spitting out the final Pokémon, Lombre into the water before wandering forward. Lombre didn't move for a second then woke up before swimming off.

Lin pulled the boat up to the raised train track. White jumped out, her tail and ears gone now and she held her shoes as she stood in low water. The Pidgey and Boh flew next to her, Snivy around her neck again. Oshawott had remained in the tub, Lin had offered to take him back to Kamaji.

"This is far as I can take ya'," Lin said with a sigh. "The train station's not far off. Think you can walk from here?"

"Yeah," White said, walking forward. "Thanks for all the help Lin."

"You better come back, ya' hear me?" Lin huffed, trying not to show that she cared and failing.

"I will!" White assured, starting to walk along the tracks. Lin started to guide the boat back.

"LEA!" the Sneasle-spirit shouted. "I'm sorry I called ya' a dope before! I take it back!"

White smiled and waved back before continuing forward. Lin was steering the boat back and she passed No-Face.

"Hey! No-Face! If you so much as put a scratch on that girl, I will freakin' murder you, not even leaving enough for N to rip apart," Lin threatened.

No-Face said nothing, but nodded in understanding. He was back to normal and highly embarrassed about what had happened earlier. Now, he just wanted to apologize to Lea.

"There's the station!" Snivy cried out, pointing ahead.

White ran forwards onto the raised platform. It was a really simple place, a white stone platform with a bench, but White preferred it Yubaba's floor. Lin and Kamaji had told her that the train would pass through here and White sat down on the bench to wait. As she did, she slipped on her shoes and petted Snivy.

White's cream ear poked up a distant sound. "The train's coming!" she called, scooping up Boh and the Pidgey who were examining the water with interest.

Past the bathhouse, the train roared towards the, No-Face gave a glance to it as he was splashed while he hurried up. White went up to the edge of the platform to wait for the train. It rode forward, looking as though it was riding on top of the water like magic. It slowed and stopped before the doors opened. White stepped onto the first step and was greeted by a large spirit, so tall she could not see his face, dressed in a blue conductor's uniform.

"Oh!" White said, digging out the tickets from her pocket. "We'd like to go to Swamp Bottom, please."

The conductor plucked the tickets from White to check them. He counted them out: one for White, Snivy, Boh, the Pidgey…And another one. White turned to see No-Face staring at her.

"Um…Would you like to come too?" White offered, wary of him, but willing to give him another chance. Maybe she could help him find a place where he belonged.

"Ah." No-Face said with a nod. He was timid again and rather shy in White's presence. He wasn't a monster anymore.

"He's with us," White explained to the conductor.

The conductor waved them in, ripping up the tickets. There were silhouettes of Pokémon and people spirits sitting on seats. The doors closed and the train started moving again. White picked an empty and set Boh and the Pidgey on the windowsill, letting the two jump around in excitement as they watched the view move by. It was their first time on a train. No-Face looked around anxiously, confused by everything. He didn't know what to do. White glanced up and felt a twinge of sympathy. She might not trust him too much after the bathhouse thing, but she didn't want to shun him either. Besides, if the bathhouse had influenced him, she was willing to help him out.

"Here, you can sit here. Just behave yourself, okay?"

No-Face nodded and settled down next to White. White turned to the window and listened as the train sped across the water and the clacking along the tracks. She watched the sea pass by in a blur, the islands with houses and forests speeding by. There was even a pedestrian crossing area that seemed the head from under the water.

The first stop was like the platform White had come from, but with a tunnel that led underwater. Several spirits got off, carrying bags with them. As the train started to move off again, White caught sight of a young girl shadow standing off to the side, as though waiting for someone. A male spirit from the train ran up to her and they embraced before the two headed towards the tunnel. It made White's heart shudder as her thoughts went to N while Snivy thought about Oshawott.

The sun set turning the sky to orange before the dark night. White could see the bathhouse in the distance. They passed by other stops; some like the first or others with fancy lights of big cities. Passengers eventually left, leaving the train empty other than White, Snivy, No-Face, and Boh, (who had fallen asleep with the Pidgey in White's lap). White lost track of it all. She had her face facing the way the train was moving as her mind wandered.

"N, please wait for me a little bit longer," White whispered softly. "I'm almost there."

The train sped off into the night, heading for a swampier area than the ones before.

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**And thus, another chapter done! White's dealt with No-Face and is on her way to Zeniba's. Her thoughts are on N while Snivy's are on Oshawott. Does it surprise you that No-Face knows Moeshasi? What is going to happen the group of five? And how's N doing? These questions shall be answered soon! Keep reading please!**


	14. Waking Up

**Pokemon Spirited Away**

**I just check how many people have read this Fanfic…Over a hundred-fifty…I feel so accomplished writing this fanfic! I'm going to be sorry when it's finished, but I have some other ideas to do as well after this. Support Ferriswheelshipping! Anyways, Kamaji, disclaimer time please!**

**Kamaji: Right. As you can guess, WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon or Spirited Away. She just enjoys writing Fanfics about them. **

**Summary time~: Last time, White had to deal with No-Face, using the last of the medicine to get him to vomit everything and everyone out. He even revealed that he knew Moeshia. Lin gets White to the train station and she lets No-Face tag along as the travel. Now…What's happening back at the bathhouse? Let's find out!**

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In Kamaji's boiler room, N lay on his blankets. He opened his eyes, surprised at where he was. He rose into a sitting position and noticed a sleeping Tepig and Oshawott lying on another blanket. He froze, the last thing he remembered was the swarm of the enchanted paper birds and…White! Where was she? And Snivy wasn't here either…A horrible thought went through his head.

A snore caught his attention. Kamaji had drifted asleep nearby, having fallen asleep during his watch. N leaned forward and gently shook the six-armed man's shoulder.

"Kamaji, Kamaji, wake up," N said.

Kamaji gave a soft grunt and woke up, surprised to see that N was awake.

"N…You're alright," Kamaji said relieved. Oshawott let out a yawn and stretched while Tepig blinked his eyes. The two small Pokémon got up and listened in on the conversation.

"I'm fine. Where is Lea?" N questioned urgently. "Did she go somewhere? Can you tell me where she is? At least tell me what's going on at least."

"You blacked out, remember?" Kamaji asked.

"Yeah…I remember being in darkness and…White's voice calling out to me, saying my name…" N said, trailing off as he remembered White' beautiful voice. He was worried; he could only hope she was alright. "I followed her voice and the next thing I know, I'm here and feeling better than ever."

"Pure love," Kamaji said simply, stunning N. "That's what broke Zeniba's spell. All spells are weak compared to the strength that one's feelings have for another."

N's thoughts were in turmoil. White's love? Then…Did she really care about him like that? His heart shuddered happily. She loved him enough to save his life and now…He could finally tell her how he felt. Then his cheek burned and he settled a hand on it. It felt like White…

"She kissed me," N said in shock.

Kamaji grinned and nodded. Tepig turned to Oshawott in anger. "I missed that while I slept?!"

"Yup! She sang a pretty song too!" the Water-Pokémon said with a smile.

N ignored them all, the room had faded away to be replaced with an image of White, leaning over to press her cheek against his and sing for him a song. She did love him! All N wanted to do at the moment was to hold the girl in his arms and never let her go and perhaps together…

"Lea left to return the golden seal. She did it to save you," Kamaji added.

Wait…Zeniba's!? N's image of White shattered. This was bad, his face turned serious and he started to get up, his face as white as the girl he love's name. What would Zeniba do to White?

"I'm sort of lost, you?" Oshawott asked Tepig in a whisper.

"Remember? Yubaba's twin?" Tepig asked.

Oshawott groaned and smacked his head. "Shit…White's going into a death trap and…SNIVY'S WITH HER!" The Water-Pokémon jumped up and said to N, "Let's move! No time to waste!"

"Let's go," N agreed, standing up shakily. He was still tired, but he wasn't going to wait any longer, not with White in danger.

"We're going to get Whi-Lea and Snivy back, right?" Tepig asked.

"We will, I just need to make a short stop at Yubaba's. I have an idea." N bowed to Kamaji. "Thanks again."

"Of course," Kamaji said. "Good luck, all three of you. And Oshawott, better tell her while you can."

Oshawott nodded as N led them towards the bathhouse.

"I'm missing something, huh?" Tepig asked as they started to climb into the elevator before rising upwards.

"I've…Been in love with Snivy since we started out journey," Oshawott admitted.

"…Bout damn time," Tepig rumbled. Then his nose curled up. "What's that smell?"

Indeed, a foul scent, not as bad as the "stink spirit", but bad enough, was in their air. N noted a huge mess on every floor, with cleanup crews working, but hardly seemed to make a dent. It was sort of hard to believe that so much had happened in the short time he had been unconscious.

"Oh," Oshawott said, waving his paw. "White dealt with No-Face, the spirit that kept giving her gold."

"A No-Face was here?" N asked surprised. If White was going to spend more time here, he'd have to do something about her protection.

"Yeah, but mind telling us what happened with you?" Oshawott asked.

N sighed. "I was sent out on a mission for Yubaba, but I made a quick stop at her twin sister's home, Zeniba. She has a solid gold monogramed seal, one of the most powerful objects in the world. I thought that it would be powerful enough to break the spell on White's friends and send you all home." N grimaced slightly. "So I broke in and stole it."

"…So…You did steal it, but for good purposes?" Tepig asked. "Zeniba had an illusion at the top floor for a while that explained it a bit."

"Couldn't you have just asked to borrow it?" Oshawott asked.

"Zeniba's not the kind who…lends things. At least not without a price. She caught me as I swallowed it…"

"Why?" Oshawott asked.

"…I need my paws to run," N said simply.

"Yeah, but how were you going to get it out?"

"…Let's move away from that…"

"Where you at least going to clean it off?" Tepig asked in shock, realizing what he meant.

"Can I move on so we can go save White already?! …Good. So Zeniba caught me stealing it and sent the birds after me…I didn't realize she had placed a curse on the seal. Sometime during my flight, I lost myself into darkness and pain. And then…"

"White's voice called you home," Tepig said finishing up for him.

"Yes."

"So…What are we doing with Yubaba?"

"My memory's a bit hazy, but I think I can recall something that might help us. And if I play my cards right, I think I can get you all, White, and your Trainers to go home," N replied.

"Really? That's wonderful! Is there any way we can help?" Oshawott asked.

"Your support's enough. Just stay strong while the worst of Yubaba comes out," N explained.

"What?" Tepig, surprised. "I thought we had dealt with her worst before."

N chuckled slightly. "That was nothing. Just wait and see. We'll all see Yubaba's true fury in a few minutes."

"Why does that sound ominous?" Tepig questioned.

"As long as it helps Snivy and Bianca," Oshawott said, "I'll do almost anything. I'm not killing anything though."

"Good, I don't think I'd like to explain to your Trainer why you became a murder," N said as the elevator dinged at the top floor.

On Yubaba's floor, N led the way for the two Pokémon. They all paused at the open door in front of her office. Oshawott and Tepig could see the huge baby in the corner, gobbling up sweets and surrounded by presents. Something was nagging in Tepig's mind about the kid, but he ignored it. Oshawott grinned; he knew what N was playing at. And Yubaba was sitting in a chair by the fire, dressed in a bath robe and her hair covered in a towel as she talked to the Foreman, Lombre, and another Politoed.

"Bah! This gold doesn't even come _close _to the damage that stupid No-Face caused," She explained, examining a large pile of gold that lay in a box sitting on a table. "Lea didn't get nearly enough. She'll have to be punished."

N froze. Punishment from Yubaba…on White…He was really tempted to go into there and smack Yubaba, but he stopped himself, barely.

"Er…Madam? You see Lea was the one who saved us all from No-Face," Lombre said. He was upset with himself for causing all the trouble. If he hadn't been so greedy, then maybe everything that had happened might not have. He and all the other workers had felt responsible, so they had collected up most of the gold that No-Face had given away to be given to Yubaba, saying it was from Lea. Many there were still surprised she had fire and a Pokémon tail.

"So what! This whole mess is her own damn fault!" Yubaba roared. "If she hadn't have let him in, this would never had had happened!"

Tepig and N were confused. No-Face? Damage? Mess? During the time they had been asleep, how much had they really missed? They'd have to ask Oshawott later.

"And now she ran away from here. She's even abandoned her own friends!" Yubaba snapped. "Bring the two of them up here! I'll make a Purrloin coat and a pair of Deerling gloves!" The Politoed winced and Lombre's jaws dropped, they didn't like it any more than the separate audience did.

Oshawott and Tepig felt all the color drain from them. That idea…It was disgusting! Their Trainers, killed?! They'd never stand for it. And White, running away? Hell no. The two quickly got their composure back and walked after N as he entered the room.

"Wait a minute," N said, speaking up.

"Master N!" gasped Lombre, relieved to find him alive. He had heard that N was lying in Kamaji's boiler room, almost dead. Lea had been the one to save him, apparently, at least according to Lin.

"You're still alive?" Yubaba asked. "And you brought those two? Oh that's just _lovely_. What is it that you all want?"

N glared at her. Oh, just hearing her threaten White's friends made his blood boil, but he kept calm. "You still haven't noticed that something very precious to you has been replaced."

"Just as three things special to me are gone," Oshawott said angrily, thinking of his wonderful Trainer, Bianca, his friend White, and Snivy, not in that order.

"Don't get fresh with me," Yubaba replied with a smirk. "Since when do you talk that way to your master?"

_Since I learned that White loved me as much as I love her, _N thought, but remained silent. His grey-blue stare didn't stray from Yubaba's face.

She was puzzled at first, unsure about what N had said. Then she frowned, as a light bulb went off in her head. She plucked a piece of gold from the pile next to her. The foreman took out his own remainder from the No-Face gold and gave it a look as Yubaba had done. As far as anyone could tell, it was just gold, plain and simple. Yubaba gave N a nasty smirk.

Still, N's hardened gaze remained. This was serious; _something_ in the room had been replaced. Something very important to Yubaba. She thought it over, her smiled fading away as she heard the clatter of tins from the baby's corner. She looked over at her son, still eating sweets. Yubaba held up two fingers and moved them in a straight, horizontal line.

Quickly, the baby's body changed back into the three Mankey heads, all still stacked up on each other. Yubaba's face filled with horror as the heads hurried out of the room, disappearing from the door.

Tepig grinned and Oshawott smirked as Yubaba sat there for a moment, completely shocked.

"My baby…" Yubaba whispered, trembling.

Ssssssssssssssssshhhhhh!

The large gold pile on Yubaba's table melted, turning a dark black color. Yubaba's eyes widened even more as she saw that.

"NO!" she cried, smacking the box into the foreman and running from the room. "MY BABY!"

Lombre examined the contents of the box. "Well! What do you know?" he said with a slight smirk as the two Politoed snickered slightly. "It's just dirt! Certainly serves her right," he whispered to his companions who laughed heartily.

Tepig and Oshawott smiled. The gold was fake! And with Boh missing, Yubaba was going crazy. Her expression had been priceless. N walked towards Boh's room. Yubaba was tearing every corner, pillow fort, and toy pile apart to find her missing son. She kept calling out to him, but no answer. She was checking behind the curtains in the back when she turned to see N and the two Pokémon. Yubaba's expression was one of extreme desperation and anger.

"YOU!" She shouted to N.

Yubaba's head towel flew off, her hair flying everywhere. Fire spewed from her mouth, her eyes blood shot as she flew across the room, hovering in front of N, Oshawott, and Tepig. N stood straight and calm, refusing to give in to panic. Oshawott glared defiantly at the witch while Tepig didn't bat an eyelid to the flames that surrounded them all.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY BABY!" Yubaba demanded, her hair coiling up.

"He's with you sister," N said calmly.

It got the affect he had wanted. Yubaba's face turned to horror as she cried, "ZENIBA!" The flamed died out quickly, her hair lying limply past her ankles. She was a terrible wreck, as the tired, weary woman stumbled away and sat down on a nearby chair, exhausted.

"Very clever N, I get it," she grumbled to him. "You'll get me my baby back, but for a price. So? What do you want?"

"Tear up Lea's contract. Then return Lea and her friends back to the human world, where they belong," N said.

"Fine! But on one condition," Yubaba said. "I get to give Lea one last test. And if she fails, she's mine. And what fate awaits you should you fail…I'll leave it up to you to imagine it."

N said nothing but turned away to leave the room. He was almost to the elevators when he heard someone calling out to him.

"Hey! Wait up, N!" Oshawott cried, rushing after the green haired youth, Tepig following. "We're coming too!"

N looked down at him. "It'll be dangerous."

"We've handled worse," Oshawott said, crossing his arms.

"Zeniba's powerful."

"So am I."

"…She could have already killed Snivy. What you would you do to her?" N asked.

"What would you do if she killed White?" Oshawott retaliated. "Admit it, despite the odds, not matter what, you'd do anything to save her and avenger her death, if it ever came down to it! So I'm coming!"

"Yeah!" Tepig agreed. "White's my friend and so is Snivy. We're coming, and that's that!"

N pressed the button and the door opened. He and the Pokémon got in. Silence until the doors closed.

"Fine."

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**Yay! N's awake! All spells are broken by love! Oshawott admits he loves Snivy, not surprising Tepig. Now…it's off to get White and Snivy!**

**Next chapter coming soon!**


	15. The Power of Love

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**Quickest story ever! I'm so making more crossovers with Ferriswheelshipping! But this story is not over just yet! We've got a little bit left! Hit it, Bianca and Cheren!**

**Cheren: I'm out of the emo corner to present this disclaimer! WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon or Spirited Away.**

**Bianca: Nope, not at all. But she has some other ideas to do with Pokémon and Studio Ghibli movies.**

**Summary: N woke up and learned that White loved him, much to his happiness. But upon hearing she was going to Zeniba's, N got up and went to Yubaba, Oshawott and Tepig accompanying him. At the top, Yubaba is furious at White as she wasn't able to get enough gold to cover for the repairs and order for Cheren and Bianca to be killed. N tells her that something precious to her has been replaced. After a while, she learns it was Boh. In a panic, she don't even care that the gold has turned to dirt and rushes to search for her son. In a rage, she was about to attack N and the two Pokémon when he told her Boh was with Zeniba. Horrified, Yubaba agrees that if N brings Boh back safe and sound, she'll release White from her contract, after passing a final test. Oshawott and Tepig tag along with N to go get White. Now, let's continue!**

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The darkness had spread over the entire sky by the time the train began to slow down. White looked through the window at the blue-black sky. It was the sixth stop. She gently woke up Boh and the Pidgey before she stood up. Outside, through the window, the only other source of light was the train, which illuminated a plain platform in the swampy area, a moss covered, broken clock. The doors opened and White and No-Face walked out, Snivy wrapped around her neck with Boh and the Pidgey on her shoulders. The train shut the doors and rode off into the night.

The swamp was a bit chilly, but much livelier than most of the other stops. The water rippled about and moss shook in the breeze from tall, twisted trees. Bug Pokémon were chirping in the night. Through the dark, White could make out some puddles and a single dirt path that led through the trees.

"Well, I sure hope this is the right stop," White said looking ahead. "We better get moving."

White and No-Face started to walk, Snivy joining them while the Pidgey flew off into the air, carrying Boh. They traveled forward for a long time, until ¾'s of the way, the Pidgey grew tired and landed. Boh set it on his back before walking ahead.

"I could carry you if you want," White offered, stopping to stretch her limb out to him.

Boh turned his nose up to her, but was glad she had offered. But he wanted to do this himself; everything was making him more independent. White smiled, pleased to see that he had changed so much from the spoiled brat he had been a short time ago.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

From the trees, hidden by the dark, a loud squeaking sound came to be heard. A bouncing light was heading down the path. The bird grew nervous and flew Boh back to White's shoulder. White looked ahead, concerned about what was happening. In a few moments, an animated lamp post with a hand at the end that caused it to bounce hopped up out of the woods. It wasn't something you saw every day, but it was the least weird thing that White had ever seen since entering the spirit world.

The lamp post stopped a few feet from White. It gave a respectful bow. White, No-Face, and Snivy returned the bow, polite. Boh bobbed his head. Then the lamp turned around and bounced back through the woods. White had an idea it was going to lead her to Zeniba's home. White briefly wondered what was waiting for her there, but she headed forward after it.

As the group walk, White realized that she didn't know what Zeniba would be like. She seemed a bit mischievous, with the kind of spells she cast, and able to hold a grudge, especially against N. She was also serious and intelligent. Zeniba was obviously very ticked off at N, wanting to see him die after stealing her seal before she took it back. What would the witch do to White? Even though she was coming to apologize, it didn't mean Zeniba would accept it. For all she knew, White guessed she could be turned into a different Pokémon, permanently, or worse. How would she be able to make sure N was okay?

White shook her head. This was no place to stop. She had to keep positive, Zeniba would, hopefully, understand. White kept walking after the lamp through the path of trees. At the end of the path was a cozy cottage with a little farm and a fence of tree branches surrounding the property. The lamp jumped up to the arch of the fence and dangled from its pole again, once more an ordinary lamp. This was it, this was Zeniba's home.

White took a deep breath and walked up to the door. It swung open as she approached, much to her surprise.

"Come in!" Zeniba's voice called from inside, much calmer now than before.

White stepped through the door, with Snivy, Boh, and the Pidgey. No-Face hung back, apprehensive. The last time he had enter a building…He had lost himself.

"Hurry up, I don't have all day," Zeniba said.

"Come on," White said to No-Face, waving to him

He slowly entered the house. As soon as he was in, the door closed to reveal Zeniba waiting behind it. Her expression was one of kindness, her smile more warming than the smirk she had worn before.

"So, you finally made it here. I'll go make us some tea," Zeniba said.

The house they were in was much smaller and less fancy than Yubaba's, but it was warmer and friendlier to the small group. A wooden table with matching chairs sat in the center of the room and to the side was a small kitchen, herbs and spices sitting on the shelves. In another corner was a spinning wheel and baskets of yard with a few pairs of needles sticking out of a few balls. Boh, the Pidgey, and No-Face waited nervously as White walked forward to the witch, Snivy in tow. Zeniba was busy at the stove, setting a tea kettle on when White and Snivy stepped up to her.

"Um…Excuse me ma'am," White said, pulling out the golden seal from her pocket. "N stole this from you. And…I'd like to return it to you."

Zeniba looked up from the kettle and stared in astonishment at the young girl. "I see. Now, do you have any idea what this is?" she asked, picking it up from White.

"It's a monogramed golden seal," White answered. "I've heard it's really powerful. I'm here to apologize for N too. I'm very sorry," White cried, bowing to the witch.

"He sliced me in two you know," Zeniba said huffily. "And I'm still cross with him,"

"Join the club," Snivy said, crossing her arms. "I dislike him more than you and he's yet to hurt me…He's trying to steal something from me though."

"Hmm…" Zeniba said as she inspected her golden seal. Her eyes widened after a moment. "Hm? The protective spell I put on it is gone!"

"Oh! You mean that black slug? I'm sorry," White apologized again. "But I'm afraid I squashed it, ma'am."

"Squashed it!?" Zeniba asked her eyes widening. White expected the worst when the witch broke down laughing. "HA HA HA! That wasn't my spell! That slug was put into N by my sister to control him! And you squashed it! BWA HA HAHAHAHA!"

White blinked in surprised, unsure of how to respond.

"So..." Zeniba asked as she stopped laughing, guiding White to the table. "What happened to my spell? Only pure, true love could break it."

White's heart shuddered again. Love…Her love for N, even though she had been unaware of it…It had broken his spell and had helped destroy Yubaba's as well.

"I…" White started to say, but Zeniba smiled in understanding. "Er…could you please turn Boh and this Pidgey back to their normal forms?" White asked as said Pokémon landed on her shoulder.

"Oh, that spell wore off of them a long time ago. Change back if you wish," Zeniba told Boh and the Pidgey.

The two shook their heads. Boh was getting comfortable in this new form and he liked riding on White's shoulder. The Pidgey, while smaller than normal, liked his new form too. White was sort of relieved. It was easier to watch them when they were like this. Snivy was just glad since they were a whole lot less threatening now.

Zeniba gave her nephew and the Pidgey a task to do for her. The two ran about on the thread spinner, getting to run and make some thread. They were pretty diligent workers, White noted as she sat down next to Snivy, No-Face, and Zeniba. The witch had set out some cookies, cake, and tea for them all. White tried a bit of cookie and tea as Zeniba began to talk. No-Face and Snivy ate a bit of food too as the witch spoke.

"I never did get along with my sister, you know. We're identical twins, yet we're nothing alike," Zeniba said with a soft smile. "Did you see how tacky her home was? Pfftt…Too frivolous for my taste. What about you, Lea? How'd you end up working for my sister?"

Boh and the Pidgey took a quick break, each eating a cookie before heading back to work as White started to tell her tale. It was easier talking to Zeniba, she was much like White's now deceased grandmother, and, just like she said, completely different from Yubaba. White told her everything, from the moment she, Bianca, and Cheren had stepped into the spirit world to meeting N, working in the bathhouse and helping the Dragonair, glossing over the incident with No-Face in the bathhouse (he was a bit relieved by this, he was still embarrassed about everything) and even her last few moments with N before she left. She blushed slightly as Snivy growled in anger. She still didn't want N to be with White, even though she had warmed up to him, if only a little. Boh was enthralled by her story, it was much better than the books his mother read to him. It had more adventure, excitement, and love than all the other fables combined and it was real. He memorized every detail, intent on remembering it.

"Hmmm…" Zeniba said, setting down her cup. "I'm sorry my sister turned your friends into Pokémon, but there's really nothing I can do about that. It's the way things are." White looked down at the table, sad. Zeniba gave a sigh. "You'll have to help them and N on your own. Try and use what you remember."

"No other hints?" White asked. "It feels like I know N from somewhere else, but I don't know when or how."

"See? Its good start," Zeniba said. "You know, you never truly forget someone once you meet them. Sometimes it just takes a while to remember, for the memories to return."

White sighed again.

"While you're thinking, the boys, Snivy, and I are going to make you a special gift, okay? And, I'd like you to call me Granny from now on, if it's okay with you?"

White retreated to a corner of the house, sitting on a chair to think. Boh and the Pidgey kept spinning as Granny and No-Face began to craft something, Snivy untangling the thread.

Granny laughed as Snivy finished telling her some small story about the first time she had met White before turning to No-Face. "No-Face that's really good. Where'd you learn to spin thread?"

White tried to concentrate. How did she know N? She was sure they had met at some point in her life, before coming here. N knew her from the beginning too, knowing her name at the very least. So when had she met him? She was sure she'd remember meeting another spirit or a Zoroark. How could she help him? Did he…Did he love her back? Her heart shuddered again, this time in worry and fear.

White got up and turned, giving a soft whimper as her tail poked out and her ears appeared. She went over to Zeniba, who was knitting with the others. No-Face was the best of the novices, Snivy's a little twisted. But Boh's was the worst, it was tangled and going everywhere, but he wasn't giving up, determined to help his auntie.

"Granny, I couldn't remember anything," White said, trying to keep the hopelessness from seeping in. "I've tried and I've tried, but…I can't remember anything! N could be in a worse condition and…I'm just sitting here! Bianca and Cheren could have been killed!" White let out a wail as tears leaked from her eyes.

Zeniba looked at her with sympathy before turning back to the threads. "Just a moment, dearie." She cut something and passed it over to White. "Here we are."

White looked at the gift in amazement. Inside her cupped hands was a Ponyta tail holder, made of a glossy purple that shimmered in the light.

"Use it to tie back your hair," Zeniba said with a smile.

"It's beautiful…Than you all so much," White whispered. Snivy smiled while Boh puffed up in pride. No-Face couldn't say anything, but he was happy. He was able to give her something she had wanted after all. The debt had been repaid.

"It's made of the threads woven together by your friends. The strongest magic comes from the heart, in love and friendship," Granny said wisely. "It'll protect you."

White nodded and she undid her hair from the previous holder. She stuck in her mouth as she re-tied her hair up with the new one. It made her feel lighter, freer, for some reason as the Ponyta tail shined brightly. At that moment, a wind swept by the house, rattling the windows.

"Good timing," Zeniba noted. "We've got another guest. Lea, would you be a dear and open the door."

"Sure thing Granny," White said.

White headed to the door and opened it carefully and peeked out. She gasped. Outside, standing with four feet on the wet grass, was a massive Zoroark with a green mane, waiting patiently for White. It was N! And Tepig and Oshawott were standing there too. N bowed his head slightly to her, his grey-blue eyes staring intently on White.

"N!" She shouted.

She burst out from the house, the door banging into the wall, but she didn't care. She threw her arms around N's face and the two pressed their cheeks together, happy to find each other safe and sound. To White, N was majestic and strong, healthy again from Zeniba's death curse. For N, White was safe, sound, and as beautiful as always. The two didn't notice each other's tears as they stood together, this there moment as they realized that they never wanted to leave the other alone ever again.

"I love you," White whispered to N, who growled contently and nuzzled her face, his returning remark clear, even without words she could understand.

Snivy gave a slight huff as she noticed their affection while Oshawott ran over to here.

"You're okay!" he cried, throwing his arms around her in a hug. She was stunned at first, but smiled softly, she liked being in his arms.

"Ahahahaha! That's love for you!" Zeniba called as she exited from her house, No-Face behind her and Boh and the Pidgey in the air again. N pulled back slightly from White and bowed his head to her.

"N, I forgive you for stealing me seal. In return you must return Lea back, is that okay?"

N nodded to her. Boh and the Pidgey flew up to Zeniba.

"Now, please come again and visit again Boh," she told her nephew, who nodded and kissed her nose before they went towards White. Zeniba turned to No-Face. "No-Face, why don't you stay here? I could use another set of hands around here and you need a home."

No-Face nodded happily, pleased to find a place where he belonged.

"Granny!" White cried as she raced over to give the witch a hug. "I'll miss you. Thank you for everything!"

"Everything will be just fine, Lea," Granny told the girl.

"I want to tell you my real name. It's White," she told her.

"White? What a pretty name, it suits you. You better take good care of it," Zeniba stated. She gave a glance to N again. "And you. I hope you take care of this young girl and treat her right. Or else," she added with a quick glare.

N had no fear in his eyes as he nodded again. Zeniba could tell he would do everything to protect White.

"Off you go, White," Granny said, releasing her from her hug.

White nodded and ran over to N, waving back to her friends. Tepig, Oshawott, and Snivy were already onboard as White slung a leg over N.

"Granny, No-Face, take care! Thank you again!" White called.

The wind picked up and N started to run. He gained speed, hovering above the ground before he launched himself into the air, rising higher and higher into the night sky. White looked back to see Granny, No-Face, and even the lamp waving good-bye to her as she disappeared from sight. White ran a hand through N's fur slightly, feeling safe and secure with him as they flew higher into the clouds. The swamp below them turned back into the see.

An old distant memory came to White, just as before. She saw water, crystal blue and clear and a small, pink shoe drifting away in it. A pale hand, that of a child's, stretched out to grab it before smacking into the water. Then, she herself was in the water again, being led to shore by something dark and furry. She thought about water in general and had an idea.

"N…I think I just remembered something. I think it might help you."

N flicked an ear at her, curious. The Pokemon started to listen too.

"Once, before I moved into the country with my parents and my sister, we lived in a city. A huge river flowed through it. Once, when I was really young, my shoe fell into the water and I tried to get it back, but I fell in. I thought I was going to drown because the river was very powerful, but instead, a gentle current led me back to shore and I thought I could see the river's spirit, if only for a moment or two." White trailed off and began to think hard.

"The name of the river…Was the Natural Harmonica River, named after the explorer who discovered it…" White looked at N meaningfully. "It was you! You were the spirit of the river! And your name's Natural Haromicia River!"

N's eyes widened with realziastion and understanding as the sound of tinkling bells sounded. His fur began to blow off his body, turning into flowers of red and a soft grey. White watched in surprise, but not fear, as N turned back into a human boy as they all fell to the sea. White grabbed his hand as they fell. Boh was being carried by the Pidgey while Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig free-fell with the Trainer and her love. N was frozen for a moment, then he grabbed White's other arm, a huge smile on his face.

"You did it White! I remember! I'm the spirit of the Natural Harmonica River!" N exclaimed.

"They filled in that river!" White cried, tears of joy falling from her eyes. "It's all apartments now!"

"That's why I can't go home! I remember saving you! And I remember your little pink shoe," N said, beaming at White.

"I knew it! I knew you were good!" White shouted. The two pressed their faces together before their lips met.

Flames spurred from White, shrouding her body and N's, giving off nothing more than a tickling sensation. White's tears fell upward, Boh wanting to catch them as they flew past him. N released on of White's hand to hold her face, so that she could hear what he had to say.

"I said this before, but…I don't think you could understand me, so I'll say it again," he told her happily. "I love you White Hilda Touko, until the day I die and even then I will never stop loving you."

"As long as my internal fire burns and well on after," White told him, "I will never stop loving you, Natural Harmonica."

Above them, Snivy sighed. White now belonged to N. She was still her Trainer, but now she shared something Snivy could never have.

"Hey Snivy," Oshawott said, taking her paw into his.

"What?"

"Just enjoy this magic, carpet ride, okay?" he asked before he kissed her

Snivy's face flushed. When Oshawott drew back, she looked at him in utter confusion.

"…Get back here and finish what you've started."

Oshawott grinned as Snivy smiled. They hugged in the air as Tepig nodded happily.

"…Now…How do we stop falling to our remise!?" he shouted.

N laughed and the wind picked up, sweeping beneath them all, causing them all to fly upward just a few feet from the ocean's surface. Together, they flew onward into the air. White held onto N's hand and looked back at her partner and her new love and smiled.

Now, White could only hope that all their stories found a happy ending as they headed for the bathhouse once more.

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**ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO! WOOOOO! *Begins to cry in joy and sadness* I fell so accomplished writing this Fanfiction so I'm going to be sad to see it go. But it's had a good life in the writing and I'm planning on writing more Ferriswheelshipping stories and more Studio Ghilbi-Pok****é****mon crossovers. I felt like I was making such an OC moment at the end there…But I couldn't help it! So, it's off to the bathhouse we go, to White's final test! Will she succeed? Read to find out!**


	16. Now and Forever in Love

**Pokémon Spirited Away**

**ARCEUS! FINAL CHAPTER IS HERE! Thank you all for reading this work that was inspired by a non-stop marathon of Studio Ghibli films and Riley Sky, a fellow Fanfiction writer. This has gone by so fast and it's inspiring me to write more Ghibli-Pok****é****mon crossovers.**

**White…N…Take the disclaimer away…For the last time.**

**White: Yeah…I'm going to be sad to WhiteOwl. **

**N: Yes…Ahem, WhiteOwl74 does not own Pokémon or Spirited Away in any way, shape, or form. Nor does she own the song Nageki No Mori, English subbed from a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Tribute video.**

**White: Only her ideas! Also, she's adding a new poll for her account! Which couple will be better done for a Howl's Moving Castle and Pokémon fanfic? Check her profile to vote!**

**Yes, I want some reviews before I start writing! I have two couples I'd like to do, (sadly, they aren't Ferriswheelshipping, N doesn't strike me as a Howl character, nor will he appear in it at all). Just check out and review please!**

**Summary (last one, a moment of silence please…MOMENT OVER!): White and co. had reached Zeniba's house, only to find that the witch was kinder than her sister. White presented the seal back to Zeniba, who was surprised to find that the spell was gone. White said she had squashed the slug, causing Zeniba to have a laughing fit and reveal that the slug was placed inside N by Yubaba as a ways of controlling him. The spell Zeniba had placed on the seal could only have been conqured by love. During tea, Zeniba told White she'd have to find the answer to her problems on her own and that she should try to remember N. After a while, White began to cry since she can recall nothing to help them when Zeniba revealed a gift to her: a purple Ponyta tail holder, woven by friendship, the most powerful magic of all, second only to love. N shows up then and the two share a heart tugging reunion. Zeniba accepts the apology and sends White, Boh, and the rest on their way, No-Face staying with her to keep her company. White tells "Granny" her real name before flying off on N's back. On the way back, White tells N a story from when she was younger; dropping her shoe in a mighty river and falling in, only to be guided back safely to shore. White realizes it was N who had saved him and told him the name of the river, Natural Harmonica, thus breaking Yubaba's influence on him. He and White kiss each other as they fly through the air, as do Snivy and Oshawott. They both express that no matter what, they will continue to love the other, death not stopping their love. They then fly back to the bathhouse to face off against Yubaba once more.**

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Dawn had arrived at the bathhouse once more, tension and apprehension sweeping over all the employees. Yubaba was waiting at the gate, pacing about impatiently in front of an empty pen. The employees were hidden from view while Lin scanned the skies, searching for any sight of someone.

Her eyes widened and she grinned while shouting, "THERE THEY ARE!

The other employees went to look; everyone including Lombre, the foreman, and all the employees that had once shunned the human girl shouted happily as they saw her, N, and the trio of Pokémon land on the other side of the bridge, N and White holding hands. Kamaji cheered as well, a woman with a large hat shielding her face besides him. Yubaba glared at them both before smirking.

"I see you failed to bring my baby back!" she called out to them, not seeing her son for who he truly was.

"You okay with this" White asked Boh, who nodded and flew forward, carried by the Pidgey.

The chubby little Patrat was carried forward, rising high above everybody's heads, causing everyone to watch him in confusion. In mid-air, Boh shifted back into his big baby self and landed on the bridge with a thud, surprising everyone but the ones who knew the truth.

"Momma!" he said happily, the Pidgey (who had decided to stay the same, it wasn't a huge fan of the woman's head it had) perched on his shoulder.

"My baby!" Yubaba cried, hugging her son tightly. "Are you hurt? Traumatized?" She drew back to look him over. "You're standing up all by yourself when did _that _happen?"

"Don't forget your promise!" N called out to his master. "You must return _White_, Bianca, Cheren, and their Pokémon back to the human world!"

"What did you do?" White asked N in surprise.

"I'll tell you later," he said with a smile and a gentle squeeze to her hand.

"Not so fast, N!" Yubaba said with a nasty grin. "I still get to give Lea one last, final test."

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the employees yelled, Lin and Kamaji the loudest. The woman besides him shook her fist at Yubaba.

"SHUT UP!" She shouted, silencing them all but the woman who kept shacking her fist.

"Stop it Momma," Boh scolded. "Lea-White and I had a really good time. She's my friend, Snivy too!"

"Wha…? B-but a deal is a deal sweetie pie," Yubaba said, surprised to find her son standing up for the human girl.

Boh gave his mother a stone cold look as did the Pidgey. "If you make White cry, I won't like you anymore."

White smiled and shook her head. She had so many caring friends. Hard to believe that at one time, her only ally was N. Now everybody was here, standing up against Yubaba for her. Kamaji and Lin, who had helper her and mentored her so much. Boh and the Pidgey, both wonderful traveling companions, were here for her too. No-Face might be strange, but he counted as one for White too. Zeniba was another grandmother. Totoro, the Dragonair, and all the soot sprites had welcomed her with open arms/paw. They all were there for her.

"Hey! Granny!" White called.

"Granny?" Yubaba asked confused.

"You're right! A deal's a deal!"

White looked at N and gave him a look. He nodded and the two walked forward. He was surprised by her reactions, but he knew that this was her way of honoring her friends as well as the deal he had taken with Yubaba. The Pokémon followed after her.

"Alright, I'm ready. I'll take your test," White said to Yubaba.

Yubaba grinned. "You've got guts, kid." She held up a rolled up paper scroll. "Here's your contract. Time to take the test. One more thing though…N…We agreed to this earlier."

"I can't be here for you at the moment, White," he told her as he released her hand and walked over to the side. "I'm…A part of this challenge too."

"Okay, just be safe," White told him. He nodded and gave a smile to her. Yubaba snapped her fingers and N disappeared.

"He'll be back at the end. Come over here," Yubaba said.

The witch led the way towards the empty pen. White hoped from the depts. of her heart that N would be okay and hoped that the test wouldn't be too sneaky. She walked after her when Boh grabbed her arm gently, concern written on his face.

"It's okay Boh. I think I can handle whatever you mother can throw at me."

She went over to the pen. It was now full of Purrloins and Deerlings that were either milling around or snoozing.

"Now then, there are three parts to this test. See if you can tell which of these Pokémon are your friends," Yubaba instructed. "I've placed a spell that masks their memories and most of their personalities. You get one try. Succeed, and you all go home. If you fail…You'll spend the rest of your existence here in the bathhouse."

White nodded and stepped forward. White had paid attention on her visit to Bianca and Cheren, to never forget them. Now it was up to her to determine who they were.

White's eyes scanned the crowd. In one corner, she could see a hunched over Purrloin with a Deerling besides it. White smiled. _Most_ Yubaba had said, not _all_.

"Cheren's the one in the emo corner, freaking out now that he knows spirits are real. Bianca's the one comforting him," White explained.

"Hmph. You've passed stages one and two," Yubaba admitted, she waved her hand and smoke erupted throughout the pen. "Time for the last test."

Once the smoke had cleared, White could see that it was full of Zoroarkes with green manes.

"One try. Find N amongst the imposters," Yubaba. "If you win, I send your normal friends and yourself back home. Lose? Not only do you stay in the bathhouse, you'll have to rip the real N's heart out of his chest!"

White couldn't breath as the crowd around her gasped. Snivy glared angrily at Yubaba, now that she finally approved of White's mate, there was a chance he would be killed by White herself! Tepig and Oshawott restrained her. Kamaji and the woman turned to each other as Lin shouted angrily. Most of the employees gulped. Totoro and a few of his friends joined to watch, the Snorlax's grip tight on the umbrella.

White took a deep breath to calm herself down. She was not going to fail, she promised to herself. She looked at the Zoroarks. She examined each and every one of them with care. They weren't showing any personality at all, thanks to Yubaba, so she had to remember what N really looked like. T

"Huh?" White asked confused.

She checked again. Then a third time. Everything: Fur, eye color, markings…

"There has to be a mistake," White said turning to Yubaba. "None of these Zoroarks are N."

Yubaba growled and gripped the contract tightly. "_None _of them? Is that _really _your final answer?" she questioned, her eye twitching.

White stared at her. She wasn't sure; she was positive. Some of them looked similar, but none of them were N, her first alley, friend, savior, love. White nodded her head and said, "I'm positive."

The contract in Yubaba's hands exploded, turning into confetti as all the Zoroarks in the pen transformed into Pokémon-girls and Politoeds.

"YOU GOT IT!" They sang happily to White.

Everyone broke out into hysterical cheers. They were overjoyed to see she had not been fooled by Yubaba's trick. White laughed happily as she watched them jump up and down, singing, dancing, and some even running forward to her. White was touched.

"Le-White!" Kamaji shouted as he pulled her into a six-arm embrace.

"Hello Kamaji," White said as a bunch of soot sprites hopped onto her shoulder and began to squeal in her ear, ecstatic in her win.

"There's someone you need to meet. Hey! Moeshasi!" He called over his shoulder. The woman with that large hat, so familiar to White, ran over and she ripped off her hat. She was tall and thin, with lots of grey streaked brown hair and pale blue eyes. She and White could have been twins, had they been the same age.

"…GRANDMOTHER!" White cried as she leaped into a hug with her spirit grandmother. She laughed and pulled her granddaughter closer.

"Oh! White! How I've missed you," she said. "How long have you known?" she asked holding her granddaughter out to look her over.

"Since I learned that Moeshasi left her forty years ago," White said, tears in her eyes. "That's when you showed up in Unova and had Mom. And then…Kamaji is…"

A single tear leaked from behind Kamaji's sunglasses. "Give your grandfather a hug girl!"

She did and cried happily. Lin brushed up behind her.

"Geez Le-White! I can't believe you! So, old man, did you even know this whole time?" she asked as she hugged White and ruffled her hair.

"I've had my suspicions since she showed up, but nothing positive," Kamaji admitted. "When you get back home," he said, addressing White, "Give your mother, my daughter this," he said, slipping an envelope into her hands.

"Look how big you've grown," Moeshasi remarked to White.

"You only died a few months ago, I've haven't grown that much…"

Moeshasi shook her head. "Not in size of body, but…In the size of the heart," she said, placing a hand on White's shoulder. "I just hope you'll do alright with Natural."

"When I see him," Kamaji vowed, "I'm going to give him a lecture on what he can and cannot do with my granddaughter."

"You didn't do it with your daughter," Moeshasi said challengingly.

"I can't just leave the spirit world you know!"

They looked at each other and smiled.

"It's good to be home," Moeshasi said. "Here, White a little gift."

In her hands was a hand held mirror. "It lets you see anywhere your heart desires, even here. So you can always communicate with us."

"Thank you grandmother, I love it," White said, holding it close to her heart.

"Hey White," Lin said, dragging her away from her happily reunited grandparents. "Do you really like N?"

"I don't, I love him," White said.

Lin sighed. "When you love someone, they drive you crazy."

"Hey, I survived the spirit world. I think I'm all set about crazy."

Lin laughed. "Just give us a call once in a while, 'kay?"

"'Kay." White said.

Boh grabbed her arm again. "White, I'm happy I got to meet you. Sorry about everything…"

"It's fine Boh, water under the bridge."

He smiled at her. "I'll never forget your story White, I promise. That's something really important."

White was touched again. "Thank you Boh, that means a lot to me."

It took a while for White to return to the bridge, working her way through the spirits that wished her well. She turned around and waved to everybody. "Thank you all!"

"Alright you win! Get out of my sight!" Yubaba pouted.

"Thank you for everything, _granny_," White said with a bow. She turned back to the crowd again. "Bye everyone! Thanks for all the help! Miss you!"

"White," N said, appearing from nowhere and wrapping an arm around her waist.

"N!" White cheered, hugging him. Cheers and cat-calls issued from the crowd.

"Robbing the cradle, huh N?"

"I'm not standing over the bed of an infant, stealing it from its parents' and grandparents', watchful eyes," N called back. He nodded to Kamaji. "I hope I have your blessing."

"You've got mine, dear," Moeshasi said with a smile. Kamaji sighed, defeated.

"If you make her cry, I swear to Arceus N…"

"Bye Grandmother, bye Grandfather!" White called to them both as she and N raced away, down the bridge. The cheers growing louder. N beamed at her happily as they ran, holding hands, the Pokémon trailing after them.

They ran down the empty streets; past the restaurants the around the corners. So hard to believe that they had been running in the opposite way only three nights ago, White mused.

"Where are Bianca and Cheren?" Oshawott asked N.

"When White passed her final test, they both woke up and their on the other side of the river. They're looking for you all," N replied.

They had reached said river, or what was left of it. The area surrounding them had returned back into the wide, grassy fields White had first encountered when she had first come here.

"The water's gone. I can walk across!"

"But I can't," N said sadly. "This is as far as I can go, White. I need you to go back. You'll do fine."

"What about you?" White asked. She didn't want to part with N any more than he did.

N smirked slightly. "Don't worry. I'm going to have a little _chat _with Yubaba. I'm going to quit being her apprentice. I've got my name back, White. I'm coming to join you as soon as I can. Thanks to you, I'm finally free."

"But you don't have a river anymore…"

"I don't need one; the river was my home because my heart was there. Now, my heart's with you," N said holding her close.

"You think…We'll see each other again?" White whispered.

"We will, I know we will. Right now though, you must go home. You've got an errand to run for your grandfather. Good bye White. Until we see each other next."

"It won't be soon enough," White said before kissing N one more time.

"I agree, every minute will feel like a year, every moment a month, and every second an hour. One last thing you must do for me though, don't look back as you return, at least not until you've gone through the tunnel. White…I love you, now and forever."

"Forever and always," White told him.

White stepped down the stairs, holding onto N's hand for a few more moments. When she finally let go, she felt a part of her leave and latch onto N and a small piece of him clicking onto herself. Yes…She would meet N again. Sooner than later. But now was the time to return home. White led the way for the Pokémon, sliding down the hills and skidding over the rocks. Her hair bounced about, still secure in the purple hair tie, her bag thumping her hip.

"White!"

Far in front of her, at the entrance, were Cheren and Bianca, both waving to her. White gasped and rubbed her eyes before she started to move again.

"There you are! We've been looking for you!" Bianca called.

"Where the hell have you been?" Cheren questioned.

White ran the rest of the way down, meeting them at the bottom. She threw her arms around them both, glad to see them.

"Sorry to make you guys wait!" she cried.

"Next time you go exploring while trying to find our Pokémon, please let us tag along," Bianca begged as White released her grip.

"Wha? Are you guys okay?" White asked.

"Is something wrong with them?" Oshawott asked White.

"Perfectly fine," Cheren said, confused. "Other than obsessive worrying," he said, shooting a look to Bianca.

"What?! It was not my fault last time!"

White was surprised. Didn't they remember anything? They couldn't hear the Pokémon anymore either.

Bianca and Cheren went on ahead into the tunnel, bickering together. White sighed. She guessed it was some sort of spell, placed on all non-spirits that left. But she was at least a quart spirit, she'd be fine.

"Do you guys remember?" Snivy asked her companions.

"How could I forget the one I love most of all?" Oshawott asked her. She grinned.

"Let's go," Tepig said, walking forward.

White was very tempted to turn back, to look once more for N. She twisted her head slightly, then shook and walked forward. She'd listen to N's words again, just as she always had. The air around her wasn't pressing on her anymore. Like it was saying goodbye.

"Come on White!" Cheren called back to her and the heroine walked forward, note in pocket and mirror in bag.

They all traveled in silence through the darkened tunnel, at least till the end.

"How long is this tunnel?" Cheren asked.

"Hang on, just up ahead," Bianca said to her companions.

Her friend stepped out first, letting out gasps of shock.

"What the heck?" Cheren asked as he and Tepig ran or to their bike. All of them were surrounded by tall grass, covering the dirt path and fallen leaves were stuck in the wheel spokes.

"It's dusty too," Bianca noted as she wiped her seat down.

"Told you we shouldn't have stopped," Cheren grumbled.

"Okay fine, next time we find a tunnel, I'll listen to you."

White then turned around to look at the building. The building was no longer red and bold, an entrance to the spirit world. It was, instead, a crumbling white-stoned tunnel that probably led to an empty field, lacking magic and the little town and the bathhouse. Never again would White step through the tunnel into the spirit world. Never again would she go through her and see her friends. But that didn't mean she couldn't return there. And besides, she had her memories, a mirror, and the Ponyta tail holder.

"White come on!" Cheren called from where he and Bianca were on their bikes, ready to go.

"You two go on ahead," White shouted. "I'll meet you at the main road, okay?"

"Okay!" Bianca cried as she sped away, Cheren in tow.

White turned back to the tunnel. She let the Mienshao ears appear and strained them, searching for a single sound. Deep within the tunnel, while most would have lost it with the wind, there was a howl coming through.

White smiled, tears in her eyes as she listened to N's call.

"SHAOOOOOO!" White called back, hoping he would hear. She then went to the wall and, with a bit of fire, began to burn something into the stone. And far away, yet not so far, a green-haired young man stood in front of a wall and scratched something on it as well.

Once finished, White turned away from the wall and picked up her bike. She hopped on with Snivy. White pedaled away, turning her head once to get a look at what she was leaving behind. The words, English and Japanese stared back at her. She smiled before heading off to rejoin her friends, in her heart knowing that one day she and N would be together again. Until then, she would keep the memories close to her. The memories of love, life, adventure. The memories of when she had been spirited away.

And elsewhere, the green-haired man had stopped his carving and smiled. He had heard the call of a Mienshao for a brief few moments and now turned to return to the bathhouse, ready to face up against his master again. He knew White would wait for him, but he wasn't going to make her wait any longer than necessary. But for now, he was going to hold the memories of her close and dear, until they were reunited again.

The words the two had written; one name each and a simple phrase, stood out on the walls. The first two were very different.

For N: 白ヒルダ月 White Hilda Touko

For White: ナチュラルハーモニカ Natural Harmonica.

The last words were the same, there to stay, etched forever in time.

私はあなたを決して忘れないだろう。I will never forget you.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

…**Can I cry now? It's finally done! I'm thankful to all the readers that have read this fanfic and I'm grateful to Riley Sky, for inspiring me. And thank you to both Pokémon and Studio Ghibli, for making my childhood. If you have not see Spirited Away, GO WATCH IT, along with other Studio Ghibli films. I'm going to make more crossover between Pokémon and Ghibli movies. I've added a poll onto my account that I want everyone to check out. And remember, memories are never forgotten; they're just hard to remember. Thank you all again.**

**WhiteOwl74**


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